Marcos urged to end red-tagging, NTF-ELCAC

Human rights organizations called on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to end the practice of red-tagging and abolish the government task force notorious for vilifying activists and critics as fighters or supporters of the country’s communist insurgency.

Karapatan and Human Rights Watch (HRW) made the calls after the Supreme Court declared red-tagging a threat to people’s life, liberty and security, and could warrant the issuance of a protection order.

Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay said that red-tagging has “long threatened the lives, security and liberty of scores of human rights activists, political dissenters and ordinary Filipinos—many of them have been victims of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture, illegal or arbitrary arrests and detention, and many other forms of grave human rights violations.”

HRW urged Marcos to publicly endorse the Supreme Court ruling as well as adopt measures to stop redtagging and discipline or prosecute government officials who engage in the dangerous practice.

The human rights groups also called for the abolition of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). Since its establishment in 2018 during the Duterte administration, the task force has persistently red-tagged activists, indigenous leaders, and journalists.

“The Marcos administration should abandon red-tagging, including by eliminating the abusive task force promoting the practice,” HRW senior Asia researcher Carlos Conde said.

Palabay said the NTF-ELCAC has facilitated not only “rampant and unmitigated fabrication of lies in attempts to quell dissent, but have also driven the rampant and unmitigated attacks on individuals and organizations.”

In its 39-page decision, the Supreme Court rule stressed that being associated with communists makes a red-tagged person a target of vigilantes, paramilitary groups or even state agents. It also noted that redtagging uses threats and intimidation to discourage “subversive activities.”

The ruling, penned by Associate Justice Rodil Zalameda, stemmed from a petition filed by Siegfred Deduro, an activist and former representative of the Bayan Muna party-list. Deduro said the military had accused him of being a ranking member of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army.

United Nations experts such as special rapporteurs Irene Khan and Ian Fry have recognized the harmful effects of red-tagging and urged the government to dismantle the NTF-ELCAC.

In 2020, the United Nations Human Rights Office pointed out that redtagging has been a “persistent and powerful threat to civil society and freedom of expression.”

“The focus is diverted to discrediting the messengers rather than examining the substance of the message. This has muddied the space for debate, disagreement and for challenging state institutions and policies,” office’s report read. — Philstar.com