Kabataan rep urges House to condemn general for red-tagging schools
MANILA, Philippines — Rep. Sarah Elago (Kabataan party-list) on Monday urged colleagues at the House of Representatives to support a resolution condemning a senior military official for claiming dozens of universities across the country have become recruitment areas for communist rebels.
Elago said lawmakers should "condemn and hold accountable" Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr., who has revived allegations he had made in 2018 of communist recruitment in schools.
The recruitment was supposedly part of a "Red October" plot that didn't materialize.
"It is imperative that the members of the House of Representatives, as representatives of the Filipino people, uphold and protect academic freedom and educational institutions," said Elago in her call to the chamber. Some members of the House are alumni of the schools that Parlade named.
The issue of red-tagging — labeling critics and dissenters are rebels and enemies of the state — has worsened under the Duterte administration, led by military men such as Parlade. The practice prompted the United Nations' Human Rights Office to note in a June 2020 report that it poses a "serious threat to civil society and freedom of expression."
Often, government critics, human rights advocates as well as indigenous peoples tagged as having ties to the Communist Party of the Philippines and New People's Army face threats and intimidation. Some have ended up killed.
Elago said the move "thoughtlessly endangers the students and all stakeholders' lives and security with the threat of warrantless arrests and violations of human rights," especially with the prevailing Anti-Terror Law which faces numerous petitions for the Supreme Court to strike down as unconstitutional.
"The officials of the Duterte administration have intently pursued the baseless red-tagging of schools while there is still no concrete and compehensive plan for expedient and continued government support for education stakeholders, and the safe reopening of schools nationwide," she added.
Some schools in Metro Manila included in Parlade's list have denounced his allegations, calling his statement irresponsible.
Only recently, the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines said government should instead address the roots of the country's decades-long problem of insurgency, such as poverty and marginalization, instead of resorting to red-tagging.
Parlade last week threatened Inquirer.net reporter Tetch Torres-Tupas on his Facebook account over a story on a petition filed by two Aeta farmers who claimed to have been tortured by the military. The general called Torres-Tupas a propagandist and claimed she was aiding terrrorists.
Reporters, including those covering the justice beat, as well as a lawyers' group have since demanded an apology from Parlade.
In a statement on Monday, the human rights commission expressed concern over the "ongoing threats to the country's civic space" after the incident, saying government has yet to fulfill its promise of improving the human rights situation in the country.
"It is even more concerning that similar pronouncements come from government officials and representatives—further aggravating the compounding human rights challenges on the ground," the agency said.
Parlade, the Army's Southern Luzon Command chief and spokesperson of the anti-communist task force, is facing administrative and criminal complaints at the Office of the Ombudsman over his repeated incidents of red-tagging individuals and institutions.
Despite this and calls from lawmakers to have him removed, he has managed to remain in his post with the military leadership taking no action.
The closest he got to a rebuke was Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana telling him to keep claims to himself if he would not be able to support it with concrete proof.
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