‘Makabayan’ urged to denounce CPP-NPA’
Solcom chief told to exercise ‘prudence,’ ‘self-restraint’
THE Senate Committee on National Defense and Security, Peace, Unification and Reconciliation, has called on the members of thee so-called ‘Makabayan Bloc’ in Congress to “come clean” over accusations they are actually ranking members of the armed communist movement by “openly and strongly” denouncing the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People’s Army and the National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).
In a report last February 22, 2021, to the Senate Plenary, covering 66-pages, the committee, chaired by Sen. Panfilo Lacson, further rejected the group’s call to “criminalize” ‘red-tagging’ while also censuring Southern Luzon (Solcom) area commander, Lt. General Antonio ‘Jun’ Parlade, over his previous statements and social media posts that added fire to the controversy.
The report was a result of Senate Resolution 559 that Lacson filed last October 28,2020 and seeks to conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, on the issue of red tagging/red baiting of “certain celebrities, personalities, institutions and organizations,” most of which are being blamed by CPP-front groups to Parlade.
Lacson said the inquiry’s aim is to craft guidelines “that will prevent misunderstanding between the public and the military and ensure the protection of the constitutional rights of the people.”
Lacson also said he was prompted to call for an investigation to help strengthen the “confidence and trust” of the public on the “professionalism of our military in consonance with the constitutional edict that the Armed Forces of the Philippines is the protector of the people and the State and that civilian authority is at all times supreme over the military.”
The committee then conducted 3 public hearing, mainly to accommodate the bloc’s hysterics and propaganda against the military and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) over the issue of “red-tagging.”
The group invented the term in order to demonize the government before the international community and the public, claiming red-tagging has resulted to the arrests of ordinary “activists” on trump-up charges and gross human rights violations in the country.
‘Legal remedies already available’
The report, however, fell short of the bloc’s expectation after the committee noted that there are already available “legal remedies” for those purportedly ‘red-tagged’ by Parlade and other government officials.
These include the filing of libel or slander under the Revised Penal Code (RPC) or cyber-libel under the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.
On the purported “chilling effect” on the lives and personal security of red-tagging against known and closet communists that the MB (Makabayan Bloc) raised, the committee further pointed at the appropriate provisions of the RPC on “grave threat, arbitrary detention, delay in the delivery of detained persons to the proper judicial authorities, among others.”
On the “blanket assertion” by the MB that red-tagging violates human rights, the senators reminded that there is already RA 9851, passed by Congress and enacted into law in 2009, otherwise known as the ‘Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide and Other Crimes Against Humanity.’
“Individuals or groups alleged to have been persecuted through red-tagging could seek recourse under RA 9851, Section 6(h)112 as it criminalizes any acts of persecution committed against an identifiable group on political grounds,” the committee said.
“Also, RA 9851 covers other speculated violations of human rights that may result from red-tagging such as willful killing,114 imprisonment or severe violation of physical liberty,115 torture,116 and enforced disappearances117 as they also fall under crimes against humanity,” it added.
Under RA 9851, the report also reminded the MB that government officials, including those in the Armed Forces can be included in any court case for “command responsibility.”
Finally, any complainant can also sue government officials under RA 3019 or the ‘Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act’ for “undue injury” and for violation of RA 6713 of the Code of Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.’
The senators also rejected the propaganda line of the MB that tries to link red-tagging to RA 11479, or the ‘Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020’ as “speculations,” further noting that the law
the law itself provides “sufficient protection” by imposing “criminal liabilities” to a public officer who conducts illegal surveillance, warrantless arrest, torture and other violations of the rights of suspected terrorists, “maliciously examines” their bank accounts and “fabricates evidence” against them.
“(T)here is no need to pass a law that penalizes red-tagging because recourse is already provided under the Revised Penal Code, Civil Code, special laws, and other judicial remedies,” the report concluded.
“In fact, some of these remedies were already availed (of) by the progressive groups.”
‘WON Strategy’ praised; Parlade censured
The committee also debunked the propaganda line of the MB that the NTF-ELCAC, created in 2018 by Pres. Duterte thru Executive Order 70, is another “military unit” run by both retired and active military officers.
Agreeing to the presentation on what the task force is all about made by national security adviser, Hermogenes Esperon, Interior secretary, Eduardo Año and, national intelligence coordinator chief, Paul Monteagudo, among others, the committee acknowledge that the task force is “a development-centered initiative, promotes welfare programs such as delivery of housing, education, social protection, health and basic services to our people.
“It refocuses the government policy to armed conflicts not only as a military concern but primarily, a manifestation of broad and deep-rooted societal ills.”
The report also stressed that “adopting the ‘whole-of-nation’ (WON) approach against
insurgency through the creation of the NTF-ELCAC, is effective and provides a better
alternative to the unsustained and intermittent peace talks which the CPP-NPA-NDF
has taken advantage of over the years.”
As for Parlade, who is also task force spokesperson, the senators noted that his public statements counter the whole-of-nation policy against the communist armed insurgency.
“This undue public propaganda also undermines the social development efforts of the peace framework and results in discord among our people,” they said.
While the committee also supports the task force’s efforts to “raise awareness” against the CPP-NPA, the same “should not be construed to be a justification for any arbitrary actions against the freedom of expression which is protected under Section 4, Article III of the 1987 Constitution.”
While further noting that the MB had already sued Parlade over his previous statements and social media posts, “it bears emphasis that ‘personal opinions’ do not absolve Gen. Parlade
from his lack of sense of responsibility and negligence in issuing contentious
statements to the media and his Facebook account,” the lawmakers said.
“This unnecessary public propaganda proves to be counterproductive and damaging
to the organizational integrity of both the NTF-ELCAC and the AFP.
“Without substantiated claims filed before the courts of law, these unfounded
pronouncements will only be rendered malicious,” their report added.
