The notorious Gen. Antonio Parlade has struck again. This time the victim of his red tagging is reporter Tetch Torres-Tupas of the Philippine Daily Inquirer as well as other reporters who reported on the case of the two Aetas allegedly tortured, illegally arrested and charged with terrorism by the military.
This is not the first time Parlade has red tagged members of the media, activists, government critics, members of the opposition, and practically anyone critical of the Duterte administration — from 18 schools supposedly in cahoots with communists to bring down the government, movie stars and beauty queens expressing concern about government’s failures, members of the clergy and religious groups opposing extrajudicial killings, to former justices of the Supreme Court who are questioning the Anti Terrorism Law.
Such a frothing-in-the-mouth, unthinking, shoot-from-the-hip bully would normally elicit nothing but scorn from a disbelieving public. But Parlade is no ordinary witch hunter. He is a general of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), commanding thousands of armed soldiers and security agents, wielding the power of life and death over the population. Thus, he is a danger to the safety and security of all those he has recklessly and unjustly redtagged on a wild goose chase for so-called enemies of the state.
In fact, Parlade should himself be tagged outright as unfit in a democratic — as such necessarily civilized, humane, and law-bound — community. Since Parlade appears unrepentant despite repeatedly being called out for his redtagging spree, it is time that he be immediately fired from his current position as spokesperson for the equally reprehensible NTF-ELCAC and assigned to a more appropriate post where he cannot terrorize our people.#
