THE Minority bloc in the House of Representatives on Monday challenged the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) to file cases against members of the Makabayan Bloc if there is evidence that they are communist rebels.
“He better file a case in court or shut up if he has no evidence to show,” said House Minority Leader Stephen Paduano on the “surveillance” claims of Lt. General Antonio Parlade, NTF-Elcac spokesman and Southern Luzon Command chief.
Parlade has said that aside from human rights lawyer and Bayan Muna chairman Neri Colmenares, all members of the Makabayan Bloc in the House of Representatives are also under state surveillance.
Lawmakers from the Makabayan bloc are members of the Minority.
The Minority Leader emphasized that “unless hard evidence is presented against any member of the House, it is the duty of the entire institution to defend any lawmaker against baseless attacks.”
Paduano added, “His words can be used against him because state surveillance per se are illegal without a court order.”
He said that Section 3, Paragraph 1 of the Constitution provides that the government and its agents can only do surveillance work upon lawful order of the court.
The Abang Lingkod Partylist representative also reminded Parlade that under the Anti-Terrorism Law, being a communist does not constitute a crime unless one has committed a terroristic activity.
He said the attacks made by the controversial general against the “left” are “unlawful and incriminatory.”
Meanwhile, the Makabayan bloc condemned the continued red tagging and surveillance not just of Colmenares but of the whole bloc as well.
“Again, we reiterate our call to stop the red tagging of the Makabayan bloc, the harassment and surveillance of its officers and members because we are just defending human rights,” it added.