Lacson told reporters that Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on April 27 promised him that Parlade would be eased out from his position as spokesperson for the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict following the Senate's call for his dismissal. The task force also retained Presidential Communications Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy as spokesperson, the other half of a widely controversial tandem along with Parlade. Lacson said Esperon reached out to him on Sunday to say that Parlade would be relieved just before he retires on July 26. Esperon has not offered any further explanation for the decision to hire an additional six spokespersons, Lacson noted as he slammed the move to hire additional spokespersons as one laced with "hubris." "Normally, the task force requests an augmentation [in their budget]...but if they don't want to listen to us [over] a simple provision of the Constitution, we might not listen to them."

Source: Philippine Star May 11, 2021 04:30 UTC