Key Philippine Military and Insurgency-Related Events: Opinion: Lawfare: Weaponizing our laws to defend the enemy

Friday, March 5, 2021

Opinion: Lawfare: Weaponizing our laws to defend the enemy

Opinion piece posted to the Manila Times (Mar 5, 2021): Lawfare: Weaponizing our laws to defend the enemy

By Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr.

First of 2 parts

WHILE the government through the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) is doing its best to prevent the radicalization of the Ata Manobo children who had been brought to Cebu, the legal fronts of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) continue to harass government officials and threaten them with legal suits.

Last Sunday, February 21, the 13 rescued Indigenous Peoples (IPs) from Talaingod, Davao del Norte boarded a flight back home from Mactan, Cebu, escorted by officers from the Philippine National Police’s Women and Children Protection Center Visayas Field Office and social workers from the Talaingod Municipal Social Welfare Office. But the Save Our Schools and the Children’s Legal Bureau (CLB) would not accede, pretending that they are doing the noble thing for the welfare of these children.

According to an Inquirer.net report, SOS-Cebu and the CLB attempted to bar the flight from proceeding to Davao City, questioning the legality of the trip. Lawyer King Anthony Perez, communications and advocacy officer of CLB, alleged that authorities failed to secure permission from the parents of seven of the 13 Lumad children who were ferried back to Mindanao.

This lawyer is trying to twist the facts here, if only to convince people that the parents are on their side. They must have been given P1,000 again, split into two. Perez’s exact words:

“The seven Lumad students whose parents sought the assistance of the Children’s Legal Bureau were transported without consent from their parents and proper coordination by authorities.” Take note of the use the word “Lumad,” which is an aberration because there is no such tribe as Lumad, just like the “Tumandok,” which are simply creations of the CPP, to impress upon us that the CPP is trying to protect all the different tribes in the targeted ancestral domain.

This is reminiscent of the two Aetas that the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) presented in the Supreme Court oral arguments on the petitions against the Anti-Terrororism Act of 2020. Just to refresh our minds, the two Aetas were paid by NUPL lawyers to make false statements and accuse the government forces of feeding them human feces while in detention. In the end, the two Aetas recanted their statements and admitted to the payment from the NUPL. The Supreme Court eventually decided not to admit their petitions.

Solicitor General Jose Calida, after exposing this unethical behavior of the lawyers, brought back the issue of falsification by the same NUPL lawyer, Chel Diokno, as they filed a writ of kalikasan for the West Philippine Sea. Apparently the same Diokno misled 23 fishermen from Palawan into signing a blank document, which they said would be needed to improve their living conditions as fisherfolk. It turned out that these signed blank documents were attached to the petition of a fisherfolk organization from Zambales. These lawyers were simply slapped with an admonition by the SolGen.

There is a clear pattern of lying and fabrication by these leftist lawyers. Their involvement with the CPP has converted them into vicious attack dogs of Jose Maria “Joma” Sison, who won’t stop at nothing to pursue their ends. Now Perez said they are currently exploring the possibility of taking legal action after they accused the police of failure to follow established protocols.

This is weaponizing the law. This is what they have been doing for 50 years. They hope to see loopholes in every government action and launch their legal attack. This is classic law warfare or lawfare.

Last year their attack was on full throttle. They were trying to criminalize “red-tagging” by accusing government officials, especially me, of unfairly labeling them as communists. But the Senate, in its committee report, said there is no need as there are enough laws to invoke for infringement of their rights. While it was signed by all 12 senators, including Senators Risa Hontiveros and Francis Pangilinan, who lambasted me during the Senate hearing, the report had a caveat and a dissent. It said that my red-tagging might have damaged the image of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Really? I can challenge that part of the report by asking the Senate to conduct its survey but no, some things are just too obvious it does not deserve our precious time.

But come to think of it. The NTF-Elcac has really stirred a hornet’s nest. It is making them so uncomfortable I will not be surprised if they will push the government again to the peace table and project the impression that the government abandoned it. Of course not. We have always reached out to these victims of Joma’s revolutionary dual tactics even as the AFP pursues them in the mountains. They are running out of space and time. Hundreds and thousands of them have returned to the fold of the law. That will leave mostly the ideologues, including those running their front organizations, who are simply enjoying luxurious lifestyles while absconding with the monies given to them by foreign donors.

As to our laws, we will continue to safeguard and invoke them for the purpose they were crafted, to protect our law-abiding and peace-loving citizens. That does not include you members of the Kamatayan bloc. Of course, we also know that when they are soon in jail, our laws will protect their rights as well.