By Robert B. Roque, Jr.
I haven’t had the chance to look into the eyes of Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. to see how wide a window it is to his soul. But certainly, his dirty mouth has best represented his filthy mind.
I don’t need to ask the senators, whom he called “stupid”, if they’d agree with me. And he’s done enough red-tagging of community pantry organizers for me to drag them into the useless trouble of pointing him out in the Armed Forces of the Philippines as the batch idiot.
Some things are just hopeless, just as some minds, like that of this particular general, are desolate. Some people bear no faith, just as some lips, like that of this NTF-ELCAC spokesperson, profess nothing but baseless suspicion and accusation. Some hands fail at charity, just as some hearts, like that of this SOLCOM chief, are incapable of seeing the needy or the goodness in people who help them.
Catholic or not, faith, hope, and charity are three theological virtues that must be the bedrock of our life and existence on earth. Take all that away from a person, and I don’t know what kind of demon would reside in him. Perhaps, Parlade can answer that question when he faces the Senate.
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For now, National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. has made the wise decision of putting a gag on this jagged-edged mouthpiece of the government’s anti-insurgency task force.
Of course, the magic word that cut off the cord of Parlade’s mic was “defunding.” What bigger reason could there be than the P19-billion budget, which senators now threaten to realign from the NTF-ELCAC to more worthwhile government projects?
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon has soundly explained how the Constitution provides such recourse for Congress. And if that message is not clear enough, Sen. Panfilo Lacson lets it known to the loud-mouthed general that Congress is willing to deny the NTF-ELCAC any budget at all in 2022. Dare I ask what worthwhile project deserving billions Parlade’s office has to show for?
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Many times over, I’ve called out Parlade as “Machine-gun Tony” for keeping his mouth on automatic fire, shooting at practically anything that moves. He’s been doing so that no less than the AFP Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, instructed the provost marshal general last February to keep a tab on Parlade.
The provost marshal general is in charge of ensuring discipline and strict enforcement of rules, policies, and regulations among the men and women of the AFP. For a while, the shame of having the chief provost marshal babysitting a 3-star general had put Parlade in check.
But lately, when he turned trigger-happy on community pantry organizers and volunteers and went on public record to link them to communist guerrillas, it seems he’d lost his marbles. His only basis in red-tagging them was the pantry slogan, “From each according to his ability to each according to his need,” which was popularized by 19th century socialist revolutionary Karl Marx.
That’s some deadly serious “Kool-Aid” Parlade is drinking! Maybe a gag order is not enough a silencer to temper him down. Perhaps, he needs a ride on a banana float this summer or, even better, early retirement.
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