Major General Antonio Parlade, Jr., of the military's Southern Luzon Command (PNA File photo)
MANILA – Southern Luzon Command (SOLCOM) head, Major General Antonio Parlade, Jr., on Monday said there is nothing new with the decision of research group IBON Foundation to file administrative cases before the Office of the Ombudsman against him and two other ranking government officials for alleged red-tagging.
"Red-tagging? Again? What's new?" he said in a media statement.
Parlade, who is also a member of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Insurgency, said the filing of the complaint is expected as the organization, which he claims publishes books that radicalize children and incite them to rebel against the government.
"What do you call a foundation which propagates fake stories of massacre committed by the AFP(Armed Forces of the Philippines) to promote hatred to the government? What will you expect from school manuals with Editorial Board members who are spouses of CPP(Communist Party of the Philippines) cadres and NPA(New People's Army) members?" he added.
He added, “What do you call organizations which are members of the International League of Peoples Struggle chaired by Jose Ma Sison, founder, and chair of the CPP, which is declared a terrorist organization by the US, UK (United Kingdom), NZ (New Zealand), Australia, EU (European Union) and the Philippines?”
Also named respondents in the Ibon Foundation's complaint are Presidential Communications Operations Office Undersecretary Lorraine Marie T. Badoy and National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon.
In its petition, IBON Foundation is asking the Ombudsman to hold Parlade, Badoy, and Esperon answerable for their malicious abuse of authority and negligent performance of duties as public officials.
The research group also asks the three respondents to be punished for conduct that is grossly disregardful of the public interest, unprofessional, unjust and insincere, politically biased, unresponsive to the public, distorting nationalism and patriotism, and undemocratic. (PNA)
