PCOO red-tagging allegations already resolved, Andanar says
MANILA, Philippines — Communications Secretary Martin Andanar claimed that the Presidential Communications Operations Office has "never red-tagged anyone."
Speaking at the Senate’s hearing on the PCOO budget, Andanar also claimed that the office's allegations of doing so are long resolved.
"Red-tagging? Are we really involved in red-tagging which in my opinion amounts to propaganda? Can you tell us more? Has this been resolved?" Sen. Koko Pimentel asked Andanar at the hearing.
"The question on whether the PCOO was red-tagging people was already resolved...the PCOO as an institution has never red-tagged anybody," Andanar said in response.
Asked about his personal idea of the practice, Andanar himself defined red-tagging as "when you accuse an individual to be a member of the communist party, or the CPP-NPA."
He, however, inserted the caveat that to admit to the accusations would mean "red-tagging in the sense that the PCOO is involved in it means that the PCOO is using all of its agency or platforms to disseminate this."
Philippine jurisprudence defines red-tagging as “the act of labelling, branding, naming and accusing individuals and/or organizations of being left-leaning, subversives, communists or terrorists (used as) a strategy... by State agents, particularly law enforcement agencies and the military, against those perceived to be ‘threats’ or ‘enemies of the State.’”
The Commission on Human Rights has also issued a warning against the practice of red-tagging, which it said "violates the constitutional guarantee of presumption of innocence and may have serious implications on the security and movement of individuals and groups involved."
READ: Anti-communist gov't task force posts false quote of Anakbayan spokesperson
'Red-tagging can bring violence to persons'
At the hearing, Sen. Richard Gordon pointed out that the Anti-Subversion Law, which outlaws membership in the Communist Party of the Philippines, has long been repealed.
Having left-leaning views and being an armed rebel are two different things.
"If there is such a thing as red-tagging, when I was in UP they would call us, you know, American boy, or administration boy which is equally bad, 'di ba? Otherwise there would be no discussion, if we put people in a category, he never grows and that’s whats wrong about red-tagging. Because when you use that strategy, you are actually refusing to listen to them or you’re asking people not to listen to them, or you’re telling them that they’re in violation of the law," he said.
"Red-tagging is worse because of the current atmosphere that you know it might bring violence onto the persons tagged as active members of the communist party, that’s the worry. I don’t think any violence will come to a person called Amboy, he will be embraced by the people," Pimentel replied.
In late September, lawmakers under the Makabayan bloc slammed PCOO exec Lorraine Badoy for her constant red-tagging of government critics, leading to the suspension of the office's budget hearings under the House Committee on Appropriations.
As far back as November 2019, Badoy was documented accusing alternative media outlets of being communist fronts.
We need to expose these terrorists preying on our sons and daughters in their schools. #NoToCTGrecruitment#NTFELCAC#EO70@anakbayan_ph pic.twitter.com/tdkQui54Sc
— NTFELCAC (@ntfelcac) January 20, 2020
The Palace communications team is also a member of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, which routinely accuses activist groups critical of the Duterte administration of being affiliated with the New People's Army.
A number of its posts doing so are still up on its official social media channels.
RELATED: Anti-communist task force, PCOO spread false claims on ABS-CBN franchise
For Gordon, "the value of the PCOO" should have been "to invite people who are perceived to be left, or left of center, or right, to engage in a discussion."
"PCOO is not the propaganda arm of the president...It is supposed to let everybody know what’s going on or the positions in the debate before the Congress right now," he added.
Malacanang's communications team has also on more than one occasion been caught in a lie after it washed its hands of a social media post claiming, incorrectly, that ABS-CBN's "request for franchise renewal was disapproved" because of legal issues raised against the network.
— with reports from Bella Perez-Rubio
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