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AFP in best position to secure NUPL from 'comrades': NTF-ELCAC exec

By Gigie Arcilla

May 4, 2019, 2:16 pm

<p>Major General Antonio Parlade, Jr., AFP Deputy Chief of Staff for Civil MIlitary Operations.</p>

Major General Antonio Parlade, Jr., AFP Deputy Chief of Staff for Civil MIlitary Operations.

MANILA – An official of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) said the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is in the best position to secure the National Union of Peoples Lawyers (NUPL), not from AFP attacks but those from its comrades.

This, according to AFP Deputy Chief of Staff for Civil Military Operations, Major General Antonio Parlade, Jr., who said he respects the decision of the Supreme Court to hear National Union of Peoples Lawyers (NUPL’s) plea for the issuance of a writ of amparo and habeas data for the latter’s protection.

“It is always the duty of the highest court to ‘hear’ its constituents,” Parlade said in a statement sent Friday night. “The SC (Supreme Court) also knows that we, in the AFP, are in the best position to secure you, not from AFP attacks because we don’t do that, but from your comrades who has the habit of attacking your own kind then blame the government.”

The NUPL, et al. , in its petition last week, claimed that “their rights to life, liberty and security have been violated and continue to be violated through the persistent threats and harassment and red tagging allegedly done to vilify and intimidate them and prevent them from pursuing their profession as members of the Bar and from practicing their advocacy as peoples’ lawyers serving the poor and the marginalized. They claimed that some NUPL members have died in the line of duty.”

“Did you watch the late Father Balweg's video where he described how they would attack communities near your ambush area, while clad in military uniform, so people will be enraged and will hate the AFP?,” Parlade said in his statement addressed to NUPL.

He also reminded NUPL how its comrades bombed Plaza Miranda on August 21, 1971, and blamed the government.

“What about the attack of your fellow rallyists at Hacienda Luisita? Maybe we should remind you of all the killings you did in order to blame the government,” he said referring to the massive rally outside the hacienda owned by the family of former president Corazon Cojuangco Aquino on November 16, 2004.

Parlade said he and 6 other respondents will comment on the NUPL petition before the May 8 deadline set by SC.

“But does it change the fact you (NUPL) are members of the Lupon ng Mananaggal ng Bayan (LUMABAN) -- the underground movement of the Communist Party of the Philippines hiding under the cloak of the legal front NUPL? No. And look how safe you are as you exploit the protection of our democracy, even as you advance your revolution to establish your proletarian dictatorship,” he added.

The NUPL, he said, has perfected the craft of deception in 50 years.

“Classic revolutionary dual tactics indeed. Use the law when it is convenient for you. Hide under and circumvent it to prosecute your violent and illegal agenda,” he added.

Other respondents in the NUPL petition include President Rodrigo Duterte, who was impleaded in his capacity as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines; National Security Adviser (Ret.) Gen. Hermogenes C. Esperon, Jr.; Defense Secretary (Ret.) Gen. Delfin N. Lorenzana; AFP Chief of Staff, Gen. Benjamin R. Madrigal, Jr.; AFP Deputy Commander for Intelligence Brig. Gen. Fernando T. Trinidad, AFP Intelligence Service of the Philippines (ISAFP) Chief Maj. Gen. Erwin Bernard Neri; and Philippine Army Commanding General, Lt. Gen. Macairog S. Alberto.

NTF-ELCAC was created pursuant to President Duterte’s Executive Order 70 signed on December 4, 2018, institutionalizing a “whole of nation” approach in its fight against communist insurgents and deal with the "root cause" of communism in the country by harmonizing the delivery of basic services and social development interventions. (PNA)

 

 

 

 

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