SENATORS yesterday called for performance assessment of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) amid calls to defund it over its supposed red-tagging of organizers of community pantries that have mushroomed all over the country.
Sen. Joel Villanueva said five senators have filed proposed Senate Resolution No. 707 seeking “to hold (NTF) ELCAC accountable for its operations, including the baseless red-tagging of community pantries and certain individuals. It is our responsibility as legislators to ensure that government programs do not harm the people we serve.”
The other authors of the resolution were Senators Sherwin Gatchalian, Nancy Binay, Grace Poe, and Senate president pro tempore Ralph Recto.
The senators said that while the establishment of the NTF-ELCAC is “a good approach to end local communist armed conflict, there have been reports shared on social media platforms which showed that its members, particularly spokespersons Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. and presidential communications undersecretary Lorraine Badoy, have been publicly red-tagging certain individuals and entities purportedly to harass and intimidate ordinary citizens.”
In particular, they cited the case of Maginhawa community pantry organizer Ana Patricia Non who had said she was “visited” by Quezon City police officers who took her phone number and inquired about her background a few days after she opened her pantry.
“Reports of baseless and malicious red-tagging, profiling, and police interference of community pantries led to a halt in operations in several community pantries, and instilled fear in the organizers and volunteers for their safety and lives, including those from Maginhawa Community Pantry, which was forced to temporarily close on April 20,” the senators said in the resolution.
Parlade had admitted that Non was being “monitored” to ensure that the socio-civic undertaking is not being used as a propaganda tool of the communists.
“One aspect of drawing this line is to ensure that the government body in-charge of counter-insurgency movements (is) effectively and efficiently performing its mandate by the adoption of programs, projects, and activities geared towards this mandate, and not for any other matter,” the resolution also stated.
Aside from checking its accomplishments, the senators would likewise want to know if the ELCAC has been “using its budget judiciously, effectively, and efficiently pursuant to their mandate.”
“There is a need to review the performance of the NTF-ELCAC in fulfilling its mandate vis-í -vis the need for judicious use of scarce government resources, and whether its P19.1-billion appropriation for 2021 should be used instead to help address the needs of our citizens during this pandemic,” they said.
At the House, the Makabayan bloc filed House Resolution No. 1728 seeking an inquiry into the Department of Budget and Management’s (DBM) release of “questionable” Special Allotment Release Orders (SAROs) to the NTF-ELCAC’s “Local Government Support Fund (LGSF) – Support to Barangay Development Program (SBDP).”
The militant lawmakers led by Rep. Carlos Zarate (PL, Bayan Muna) recommended the immediate suspension of SARO issuances for NTF-ELCAC’s activities and projects worth P16.4 billion.
They said the DBM has approved and released SAROs worth P9,659,500 from March 24, 2021 to April 23, 2021 for the implementation of priority projects of recipient LGUS under the LGSF-SBDP of the NTF-ELCAC but “project details corresponding to each SARO are inaccessible in the DBM website.”
SAROs worth P3.85 billion were also approved last April 23 during the height of calls for the rechanneling of the NTF-ELCAC’s budget to community pantries.
“No single centavo must be spent on a task force that has openly maligned and red-tagged members of the House, celebrities and ordinary citizens and even organizers of community pantries,” said the resolution.
The resolution said the LGSF-SBDP seeks to provide up to P20 million for each of the 822 cleared barangays “to be used for a menu of duplicate and dubious projects which include farm-to-market roads, water and sanitation system, housing, among other, which are already being undertaken by other national government agencies.”
Senate minority leader Franklin Drilon has said over the weekend that he would file a resolution condemning Parlade for his “stupid” remark against senators who want to defund the NTF-ELCAC amid the red-tagging of community pantry organizers.
“I’ll tell you they are stupid if they will take it (NTF-ELCAC funds) back. They were the ones who signed it into law so we can continue with the government programs. Then now they will say that they will defund the NTF-ELCAC?” Parlade had said.
Drilon said Parlade’s statement was “very disrespectful and uncalled for.”
Parlade yesterday insinuated senators who are calling to defund the task force want communist insurgency to persist.
“What is NTF-ELCAC? It is ending local communist armed conflict. Essentially what they are saying is to defund ELCAC and let insurgency continue. Let’s just face this problem, let’s continue to have insurgency,” said Parlade, who is also the commander of the AFP Southern Luzon Command based in Lucena City.
He added: “Is that what we want to happen?” Parlade asked.
On the call to recall the P14.6-billion fund under NTF-ELCAC’s Barangay Development Program, Parlade said these projects were requested by the people from the national government, pointing out that the undertaking involves the construction of projects, including farm-to-market roads, in areas formerly infested by communists.
Parlade apologized to senators over his “stupid” remark and clarified that it was not directed to all members of the Senate. He said he merely repeated the word used by a senator to describe the task force’s functions.
Parlade said he would like to reach out to the senators and ask them not to be too harsh on task force officials because they do not get additional compensation from their appointment to the NTF-ELCAC.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said lawmakers should not make the whole task force suffer based on the statements or action of a single person.
“Our reminder to the policymakers, they know that policy is different from the one implementing the policy. One person such as the spokesman is not enough to set aside the policy,” Roque said.
He reiterated that the general policy of the government is that it welcomes community pantries as they do not only help many people who are in need but they also showcase the Filipino’s’ Bayanihan spirit and civic volunteerism.
Parlade against justified the decision of the task force to monitor some of the community pantries, virtually defying the gag order imposed on him and Badoy by National Security Adviser and NTF-ELCAC vice chairman Hermogenes Esperon Jr.
“It is true, it’s just right for the government to monitor them, we are not profiling them,” said Parlade, then quickly stopped: “ Anyway, I don’t want to talk about community pantry anymore.”
He said he will comply with the order for him to stop making comments on the issue of community pantry because “soldiers always obey orders. If we are ordered to stop speaking, we’ll stop. If we are ordered to attack, we attack. That’s how it goes,” he said.
Badoy, in a statement, said Esperon’s directive was not a gag order and it does not cover her and Paralde’s roles as spokespersons of the task force.
She said she and Parlade, “like good soldiers” will follow and not speak on the pantry issue but they will continue to speak up against the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) “so that their deceptions and their pretensions and lies may be known by our people”.
“A government that will stop at nothing to defend and protect the people it has sworn to defend. And we will stop at nothing in ending the reign of terror of this group that has brought so much pain and suffering on our people – the CPP NPA NDF. The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict remains strong and committed in its resolve to finally bring to our people and our land the Peace that has eluded us all these decades,” she said. — With Wendell Vigilia and Jocelyn Montemayor
