Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Lieutenant General Antonio Parlade Jr. erroneously claimed that it is in the agenda of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), under the proposed Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER) with the Philippine government, to block the implementation of the national identification system.
STATEMENT
In an April 4 Facebook post, the spokesperson for the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) said:
“On the ID system..
In the CPP’s CASER (Compre[hensive] Agreem[e]nt on Soc[ial and] Eco[nomic] Ref[orms]) agenda, the ID system is one of those they made sure will never be imposed. Violation of privacy daw (allegedly). In truth they didn[‘t] want those with No Permanent Address to be identified.”
Parlade, chief of the military’s Southern Luzon Command, went on to say:
“Came Marawi Siege, we didn[‘t] have any ID to rely on. Now with COVID we still can[‘t] contact trace our people for OUR safety. That’s how the liberal mind works. To this day we can[‘t] count our people living in slums. No ID for proper distribution of SAP, none for vaccine allocation and programming, none for quarantine control. Then these dilawans (Yellows) blame gov[‘]t for inadequate response to this pandemic. But come election they will all find this situation of us still not having IDs useful. Hypocrites.”
Source: Antonio Parlade Jr. Official Facebook Account, On the ID system…, April 4, 2021
In the statement, the general virtually lumped together communist groups with the Liberal Party, which is associated with the color yellow. (See VERA FILES FACT CHECK: Duterte says ‘Yellows’ and ‘Reds’ should merge; that doesn’t make sense)
FACT
Parlade’s claim is wrong. Nowhere in the 180-page draft of CASER in 2018 is any motion or proposal to oppose the implementation of the national ID system included. The only security concerns NDFP proposed in CASER were reforms focused on job security, environmental protection, and the country’s disaster readiness. Moreover, no such contention was included in the agreed outcomes for CASER between the national government and the NDFP during their second round of formal talks in 2016.
CASER is a document that weighs in on “concrete and doable steps” in developing the country’s economy, pursuing genuine agrarian reform and rural development, upholding human rights, workers’ rights, and environmental protection, among others.
The NDFP touts the document as “highly significant and useful in demonstrating the readiness” of its camp in negotiating with the Philippine government for a “substantive agreement” on pertinent social and economic issues “despite tremendous obstacles.”
Months before Republic Act 11055, or the Philippine Identification System, was enacted on Aug. 6, 2018, the NDFP issued two separate statements, enumerating its reasons for opposing it.
According to the law, the establishment of a single national identification system was warranted specifically for the “seamless, efficient, transparent and targeted” delivery of public and social services to Filipinos, without citizens having to present other IDs for such endeavors.
In September 2017 and May 2018, the NDFP said the then proposed system would be “in violation of civil rights” and a “deathblow to privacy rights” as the measure would collect personal information and biometric data such as a set of fingerprints, iris scan, and front facing photographs.
‘No IDs?’
The NTF-ELCAC spokesperson is also wrong in claiming that there are “no IDs” to facilitate the distribution of cash assistance under the government’s social amelioration program (SAP). Currently, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) recognizes other government-issued IDs from the beneficiary sectors of the program such as:
In some instances, such as those of “informal workers,” barangay certificates or certification of membership to a driver’s organization or association are accepted.
Hiccups in the distribution of SAP cash assistance, specifically its second tranche, have been attributed to the limited mobility of the SAP task force during the enhanced community quarantine and some gaps in the required information in the forms filled out by the cash assistance beneficiaries, according to DSWD Undersecretary Rene Glen Paje.
In a 77-page report published on Feb. 22, the Senate defense committee called out Parlade for “damaging the organizational integrity of both the NTF-ELCAC and the AFP” with his “unnecessary public propaganda.”
The AFP launched an investigation on Parlade’s red-tagging spree on Facebook in February following his unsubstantiated claims against a reporter of Inquirer.net.
Sources
National Democratic Front of the Philippines, Draft Draft Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER), Jan. 17, 2018
National Democratic Front of the Philippines, About the NDFP, Accessed April 15, 2021
Official Gazette of the Philippines, Executive Order No. 70, Dec. 4, 2018
Antonio Parlade Jr. Official Facebook Account, On the ID system…, April 4, 2021
Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, Agreed Outcomes for CASER, Oct. 23, 2016
National Democratic Front of the Philippines, National ID system in the hands of murderous strongman will have dreadful results, Sept. 5, 2017
National Democratic Front of the Philippines, Unite to oppose the National ID system, May 26, 2018
Official Gazette of the Philippines, Republic Act No. 11055, Aug. 6, 2018
Official Gazette of the Philippines, AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE PHILIPPINE IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM, Aug. 6, 2018
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Memorandum Circular No. 4, March 30, 2020
Business Mirror, 12 million more SAP beneficiaries await cash aid, July 28, 2020
GMA News Online, DSWD admits delay in distribution of second tranche of cash aid, July 27, 2020
Manila Bulletin Official Facebook Page, Reasons for SAP 2 distribution delay cited, July 27, 2020
CNN Philippines, Military to investigate Parlade’s comments vs. journo — Lorenzana, Feb. 8, 2021
Inquirer.net, New AFP chief on Parlade probe after remarks vs journo: We give due process, Feb. 9, 2021
Rappler, Finally, AFP probes Parlade over red-tagging, Feb. 10, 2021
Senate of the Philippines, Committee Report No. 186, Feb. 22, 2021
(Guided by the code of principles of the International Fact-Checking Network at Poynter, VERA Files tracks the false claims, flip-flops, misleading statements of public officials and figures, and debunks them with factual evidence. Find out more about this initiative and our methodology.)
