Red-tagging in the Philippines
[8] Cause-oriented groups including the United Nations,[9] Amnesty International,[10] and Human Rights Watch[11] warn that its use as a political tactic undermines Philippine democracy by stifling dissent, producing a chilling effect on general discourse and, more insidiously, encouraging assassinations and retaliations.
The Commission on Human Rights follows the definition laid down by the International Peace Observers Network (IPON), which defines it as:[3]An act of State actors, particularly law enforcement agencies, to publicly brand individuals, groups, or institutions as… affiliated to communist or leftist terrorists.
[29] A report by the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights said that Robredo was the "prime target of intensified disinformation and red-tagging in social media leading up to election day."
[32] Organizations frequently subject to red-tagging in the Philippines include civil-rights groups,[33] religious institutions,[34][35] health worker unions,[36] academia,[37][38] and the mainstream and alternative media.
[45] In criminal and administrative suits filed before the Office of the Ombudsman on December 4, 2020, Karapatan asserted that red-tagging "can be considered a violation of the principle of distinction" under international humanitarian law.
[50] In January 2019, indigenous Lumad leaders Datu Jomorito Guaynon and Ireneo Udarbe were arrested after being accused by police and state elements of being communist rebel recruiters.
[51] In August 2019, Brandon Lee, an American ancestral-domain paralegal and Cordillera Human Rights Alliance volunteer, was shot four times outside his home in Ifugao province, putting him in a coma.
[52] The Negrense ethnic group has also been subject to a disproportionate amount of red-tagging in the decades since Philippine independence,[53][54] from the usual sacadas dumaans to legal professionals, celebrities and even call-center labor-rights advocates.
[58] The Commission on Human Rights stated that the administration's red-tagging has endangered the lives of a lot of members of Philippine labor unions, that "branding any group as a communist front without proper trial violates their constitutional guarantee of presumption of innocence."
In 2018, Victor Ageas, labor union leader of the Nagkahiusang Mamumuo sa Suyapa Farm (NAMAFUSA-NAFLU-KMU), who stood against the Japanese giant Sumitomo Fruit Corp. (Sumifru) in Compostela Valley province survived an assassination attempt by motorcycle-riding gunmen who ambushed him while on his way to work.
Labor union leader, Melodina Gumanoy, secretary of Namafusa-Naflu-KMU, was also targeted when motorcycle-riding gunmen attempted to kill her while she was on her way for work in Packing Plant 250 owned by Sumifru at Osmeña village, Compostela town.
[20][59][60][61] Moreover, labor organizations were also labelled as legal fronts of an underground armed struggle movement and arrested activists were routinely accused of possessing firearms and ammunition.
[62] The Coca-Cola Company has distinguished itself in recent years for an incapacity to document labor-rights violations at its own operations and those of its bottlers in Haiti, Indonesia, Ireland and the USA.
[70][71] The Defend Jobs Philippines spokesperson Thadeus Ifurung explained that such moves to deal with the dissent of the workforce present red-tagging and maliciously identifying union leaders and members among the public sector as 'communists' and endangers their safety and right to self-organization as workers.
[72] Devout Christians and anticommunists, such as labor organizer Johnny Tan and his colleagues in the Federation of Free Workers, were themselves not spared from being "tagged as communists" as early as the 1950s.
[74][75] In January 2021, the AFP falsely accused human rights lawyers Roan Libarios, Alexander Padilla, and Rafael Aquino of having been armed rebels who have been captured or killed.
[82] The Facebook page of National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) posted a series of infographics that incorrectly said media giant ABS-CBN's franchise was not renewed because "they have issues with the law."
Verified pages of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) and Radio Television Malacañang (RVTM) shared NTF-ELCAC posts pertaining to ABS-CBN's franchise.
[84] Pampanga TV manager Sonia Soto, who is also the president of the media arm of the LausGroup of Companies, was red tagged by National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) regional director, Rolando Asuncion, during a forum at Don Honorio Ventura State University in Bacolor town.
[107] GABRIELA, with senators Risa Hontiveros and Francis Pangilinan defended Soberano and criticized Parlade's "red tagging," while the Concerned Artists of the Philippines (CAP) urged the general to retract his statement and apologize to the actress.
During the 1957 presidential campaign, the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) conducted black-propaganda operations to ensure his defeat, including the distribution of condoms with holes in them and marked with "Courtesy of Claro M. Recto" on the labels.
[117][118] Moreno had earlier ordered the taking down of unauthorized tarpaulins that declared CPP members, NPA fighters and national democrats as personae non gratae in the city.
"[120] Meanwhile, Pamalakaya, which represents fisherfolk and coastal communities in Cavite, have retaliated against Parlade in defense of Remulla, urging the governor to instead declare the general as persona non grata in their province.
[121] Some commentators have satirized the banality and meaninglessness that has come to characterize, on the one hand, red-tagging and, on the other, false accusations leading to tokhang; for instance, by pointing out the absurdity in tagging the likes of Bongbong Marcos and economic liberal and declared NTF-ELCAC supporter Leni Robredo red.
[122][96] Government officials and former press secretary Rigoberto Tiglao said that it was Sison himself who had unwittingly "tagged" specific groups red,[123] including by identifying them online.
[130] In a 2020 report, the Commission on Human Rights called on members of the executive branch of government to desist from red-tagging and labelling defenders as terrorists or enemies of the state and to prohibit the practice.
[142] The definition, according to Human Rights Watch,[142] ...could allow the government to transform less serious offenses, such as vandalism, or legitimate acts of protest, into crimes punishable by a mandatory 40-year sentence.
Under this definition, for example, a political protestor demanding that the president resign, who sets fire to an effigy (committing arson or destruction of property), could conceivably be charged with terrorism and, if convicted, sent to prison for 40 years.
On June 11, 2020, Malacañang, through Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, dismissed claims that the government is out to red-tag opposition groups as a matter of policy, contradicting observations made by the United Nations Human Rights Office.
The government has also reassured that "activism is not terrorism" and that the law contains language protecting advocacy, protest, dissent, industrial action, and strikes that do not create "a serious risk to public safety."
