Government not red-tagging groups – Sotto

MANILA, Philippines — Militant organizations and left-leaning party-list lawmakers accused of being fronts and leaders of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) should just sue their accusers in government for libel, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said yesterday.

Sotto gave the advice as the Senate committee on national defense and security wrapped up last week its inquiry into the alleged “red-tagging” by the authorities of several militant groups and left-leaning party-list lawmakers.

The Senate president also said he viewed the matter as not red-tagging, but government security officials “identifying” organizations and lawmakers supporting the CPP-NPA, which President Duterte had declared as a terrorist organization.

He said he found it “unfair” that the “issue” has become one-sided, where the accused groups and lawmakers have portrayed themselves as victims before the public when those who have exposed them—former leaders of the CPP-NPA-NDF—were the ones in danger from assassination by their former comrades.

“They have a legal remedy, they can file libel complaints. They’re lawyers, they know they can do that,” Sotto told radio station dzBB, referring to those accused of supporting the CPP-NPA-NDF.

The senator said filing such complaints is much better than pushing for criminalizing red-tagging, which, he said, is very unlikely to pass Congress.

“What about others who are called ‘fascists’? Maybe criminalizing name-calling has a remote chance of being passed,” he added.

Those accused of supporting communist rebels have legal recourse, but former CPP-NPA-NDF leaders, some of whom have testified in the Senate inquiry, fear for their lives, according to Sotto.

“One side has the law, but does the other side follow the law? Just like terrorist organizations, like the Abu Sayyaf, they don’t follow any law. So these former NPAs are facing threats to their lives from those who don’t follow the law,” he said.

Aside from documents received by the committee chaired by Sen. Panfilo Lacson, Sotto said he is giving more weight to the testimonies for former communist leaders and rebels, than the mere denials of those suspected of supporting the CPP-NPA and “armchair critics.”

‘Matter of policy’

In another development, a party-list group may be barred from running in the election if proven to be espousing violence “as a matter of policy,” according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

“We need to see that violence is being espoused as a matter of policy and as a means of pursuing their goals. That’s the language of our law,” Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said in mixed English and Filipino in an interview with “Dobol B sa News TV” yesterday.

“So we need to prove that and it should be clear that the responsibility lies in the organization,” Jimenez added.

The Comelec spokesman made the statement amid reported plans to disqualify members of the progressive House Makabayan bloc in the coming 2022 elections.

Makabayan members have vehemently denied Duterte’s accusation that the coalition of progressive party-list groups is among the “legal fronts” of the CPP.

Jimenez, however, explained that it must be proven that a particular party-list indeed violates the rules set under the law and by the Supreme Court for valid and eligible groups.

“It’s also the right of others to ensure that the participating party-list is deserving for such participation. We cannot say that we cannot complain of a party-list organization, that is why we have to subject it to hearing because we don’t want one party-list group to be removed just because it is being accused of being a front,” he said.

“But at the same time, we cannot take away the right of the people to say that a group should not be included. So it’s a balancing of rights,” he added.

Human Rights Summit

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice (DOJ) is holding a three-day Human Rights Summit in line with the technical cooperation with the United Nation Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for the Philippines to strengthen its measures against extrajudicial killings (EJKs) and other human rights abuses.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the three-day summit would be held at the Philippine International Convention Center today and on Dec. 9-10. There will be no summit tomorrow since Dec. 8 is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and a special non-working holiday.

The summit is in compliance with the Oct. 7 UNHRC resolution that called for technical assistance and capacity-building to support the Philippines’ efforts to strengthen its human rights and accountability measures.

This Human Rights Summit is one of several component projects proposed by the DOJ as part of the joint program on technical cooperation between the UN and the Philippine government, pursuant to the latest resolution of the UN Human Rights Council adopted last June.

Guevarra, as DOJ secretary, is the chairman of the Administrative Order 35 Task Force, or the Inter-Agency Committee on Extra-Legal Killings, Enforced Disappearances, Torture and Grave Violations to the Rights to Life, Liberty and Security of Persons.

The summit is organized to strengthen the task force.

Guevarra explained the summit was necessary because “it is the DOJ’s guiding principle to uphold at all times the rule of law, including the protection of human rights, especially those of the vulnerable and marginalized sectors of society.” – Mayen Jaymalin, Evelyn Macairan