SENATORS yesterday gave Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. a dressing down for calling members of the upper chamber “stupid” after they sought the defunding of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) for red-tagging community pantry organizers.
Senate Resolution No. 709 was signed by Senate President Vicente Sotto III, Senate president pro-tempore Ralph Recto, majority leader Miguel Zubiri, minority leader Franklin Drilon, and Senators Nancy Binay, Pia Cayetano, Grace Poe, Sherwin Gatchalian, Leila de Lima, Richard Gordon, Risa Hontiveros, Panfilo Lacson, Francis Pangilinan, Aquilino Pimentel IV, and Joel Villanueva.
The senators took offense at Parlade’s “stupid” reaction to the call of several senators to defund the NTF-ELCAC and realign its budget to augment the government’s COVID-19 measures after the task force spokesman red-tagged Ana Patricia Non, organizer of the Maginhawa community pantry, and said she was under monitoring for possible links with left-leaning groups. The military official likewise said that community pantries were used as propaganda fronts by the communists.
“Instead of engaging in a constructive debate, Lt. Gen. Parlade has chosen to demean and disparage the Senators, through statements that display his limited grasp of Congress’ role in the budget process and show lack of respect not just for the Senators as duly-elected representatives of the people but also for the Senate as an institution,” the senators said.
They lectured Parlade and reminded him that “under the Constitution, the power of the purse is exclusively lodged in Congress, whose role does not end with passage of the General Appropriations Act but extends to budget oversight, with Congress duty-bound to ensure that funds are judiciously and efficiently spent for the appropriated purpose, considering that budgeting involves the allocation of scarce resources for various competing demands and needs of the public.”
“The Senators’ reprimand of Lt. Gen. Parlade is justified and (the) scrutiny of (the) NTF-ELCAC’s use of its budget is warranted, in light of the deplorable acts and pronouncements of Lt. Gen. Parlade as NTF-ELCAC spokesperson,” they stressed.
Aside from rebuking Parlade, SRN 709 required the NTF-ELCAC to submit its quarterly disbursement report on its P19-billion budget for 2021.
The senators likewise reiterated that Parlade’s appointment as spokesman of the task force is a continuing violation of the Constitution since active military officers cannot hold posts meant for civilians.
In a phone interview, Parlade said it is the right of the senators to move to censure him. “ That’s okay. That is their right,” Parlade said, adding: “That’s within their powers but definitely, I’m not attacking the institution if that is what they are thinking.”
“Let them do their thing and then we’ll know what’s the underlying, what the implication of the censure is,” he added. — With Victor Reyes
