3 government execs sued for red-tagging

MANILA, Philippines — Three ranking government officials are facing administrative charges for linking the research group IBON Foundation and other progressive organizations to the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA).

IBON Foundation executive director Sonny Africa and board chairman Bishop Solito Toquero yesterday filed the complaints before the Office of the Ombudsman against Southern Luzon Command chief Maj. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr., Presidential Communications and Operations Office (PCOO) Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy and National Security adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr.

Parlade is former deputy chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)’s civil military operations.

The group said Parlade, Badoy and Esperon should be held accountable for abuse of authority, negligence in the performance of duties as public officials, unprofessional conduct, political bias, conduct that is undemocratic and “disregardful” of public interest and distortion of the values of nationalism and patriotism.

The complaint stemmed from the officials’ alleged vilification of IBON and other activist groups by tagging them as fronts or supporters of the CPP-NPA. 

IBON said this “baseless” red-tagging resulted in various forms of harassment against the groups and their members such as prolonged surveillance, illegal arrests and, in worst cases, torture and killings.

“These officials must be held accountable for their baseless accusations that the activists are terrorists and supporters of communist group,” Africa said in Filipino.

“They are spreading this baseless accusation with malice. This is not an ordinary act of insulting the activist groups. This red-tagging often results in illegal arrest, surveillance and killing of the activists,” he added.

The group said the constant vilification of IBON and other activist groups has been going on since last year. It said Badoy, Parlade and Esperon have been uttering slanderous statements in media interviews, forum guestings and speeches.

It said Badoy and Parlade conducted a road show in Europe in February, wherein they reportedly accused the research organization of supplying “fabricated reports” to the United Nations and European Union.

The group said Esperon, at a press conference in Malacañang in March 2019, named the group as among the Philippine non-government organizations (NGOs) supported by the Belgian government to “act as legal fronts for the CPP-NPA.”

IBON said the most recent red-tagging occurred last month, when Badoy – during an interview with One News’ “The Chiefs” aired on Cignal TV – accused IBON of being a “front” of the CPP-NPA.

This was after IBON research head Rosario Guzman fact-checked the PCOO’s ‘Duterte Legacy’ information materials. 

The group said Parlade spent the first week of this month in Australia calling out IBON for supposed “terrorist financing.”

“This practice of red-tagging the NGOs without any evidence or basis should stop now. This complaint is our little contribution to stop this practice which usually leads to more serious human rights abuses, such as illegal arrest, surveillance and killings,” Africa said.

IBON, in its complaint, underscored how the Task Force to End Local Communism and Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) intensified the crackdown against NGOs and other civic groups. 

The NTF-ELCAC was created through Executive Order No. 70 issued in December 2018.

Parlade, Badoy and Esperon are ex-officio members of the NTF-ELCAC.

IBON said it has written to the AFP and the National Security Council (NSC) asking for evidence showing the group’s supposed ties to the CPP-NPA. 

“Despite repeated requests, the AFP and NSC refused to provide any evidence, although they purportedly showed these to media, diplomats, government agencies and even private sector groups,” IBON said.

The group said IBON is just a research foundation registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that publishes socio-political-economic analysis “for the public to see.”

“Its researches enjoy a reputation of being independent, evidence-based and credible. It is because of this reputation that its researches on social justice, real economic development, environmental sustainability and democracy are widely used by non-government and people’s organizations in pursuit of their own advocacy work,” the group said in the complaint.