NTF ELCAC throws full support for Parlade vs. ouster call

From the Philippine News Agency (Mar 11, 2021): NTF ELCAC throws full support for Parlade vs. ouster call (By Priam Nepomuceno)

The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF ELCAC) expressed its full support to one of its spokespersons, Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade, Jr., after some members of the Senate called for his removal from the government's anti-insurgency body.

"The NTF ELCAC stands solidly behind Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade and rejects calls for him to step down as spokesperson of the task force," Presidential Communications Operations Office Undersecretary Lorraine Marie T. Badoy said in a statement forwarded to the Philippine News Agency Thursday.

Badoy, who is also a spokesperson of NTF ELCAC, said Sen. Panfilo Lacson's claims that the NTF ELCAC is a civilian task force is wrong.

"Senator Lacson is wrong when he says that the NTF ELCAC is a civilian task force. It is a task force that enlists each and every member of the government in the battle to end this 52-year communist scourge that has brought so much grievous harm and endless suffering to the Filipino people," she added.

She added that it is only fitting that members of the military who carried the burden of the more than 50 years insurgency, to be part of the NTF ELCAC that is tasked to neutralize for good communist terrorists.

"And it is but right that those who have borne this problem on their own for over five decades- our men and women in uniform- be in the forefront of this fight," she added.

Parlade, she said, is a "shining light" as he serves to enlighten and protect the Filipino people on the dangers and deceptions being committed by the communist terrorists and their allies.

"Not only is he supremely qualified to be the voice of a task force committed to ending this scourge that has brought our country untold pain, and headed by a President singular too in his great love for country, Lt. Gen. Parlade brings inspiration and nobility to lead this charge against these violent extremists that have stolen so much of what is precious to us: our children, our indigenous peoples, our country," she added.

Badoy also called Parlade a "living hero" and the country is very lucky to have him in the thick of the fight against communist terrorists.

"Lt. Gen. Parlade is a living hero and this country is so lucky to have him at the front and center of a war that asks the best of us," she said.

Meanwhile, Undersecretary Joel M. Sy Egco, Executive Director of the Presidential Task Force on Media Security, said Parlade, who is Southern Luzon Command chief, does not speak only for himself or the office he represents but for all freedom and peace-loving Filipinos, including esteemed senators, who have been victims of this communist terrorist group for more than 50 years.

“Most importantly, General Parlade speaks for every Juan and Juana he swore to protect at the cost of his life when he embraced the profession of arms,” he said. “As a true soldier, a patriot, a father, a son, and true defender of our democracy.”

Some senators earlier called for Parlade's removal from the post, citing that his designation violates the Constitution which states that no member of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in active service shall be appointed at any time to a civilian post in the government.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1133367