MANILA, Philippines — There should be a law to define the practice of red-tagging — or the practice of conflating dissent and criticism with joining communist rebels and taking up arms against the government — Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson and Senate President Vicente Sotto III said Wednesday.
Both said that they have been criticized for doing it and that a law that defines the practice would help narrow down what it means.
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[We want] a law that will define what red-tagging actually means. There's no definition. We attempted to define what red-tagging meant through a comittee report but there really is a need to institutionalize its definition by way of legislation," Lacson said in Filipino during a press con in North Cotabato on Wednesday.
Lacson earlier Wednesday said it was unfair of the government's anti-communist task force to accuse Baguio City Mayor Benjie Magalong of protecting communist rebels after he ordered the takedown of tarpulins and posters branding party-list and activist groups as terrorists or communist front groups.
Red-tagging is a tactic commonly used by government agencies to discredit human rights advocates, activists, environmentalists, journalists and others in the Philippines. In some cases, red-tagged activists and rights workers have been subjected to harassment and others were later killed. Several rights groups, including the UN Human Rights Office, flagged this as a dangerous practice that has been institutionalized in the country.
The government has rejected the term, saying its accusations are actually "truth tagging".
"We have to define red-tagging," Sotto said. "'Yan ang pinag ingatan namin nung nag-hearing kami doon sa mga pinagbibintangan. May krimen na binibintang pa lang, si ganun, corrupt. Ano yun, corrupt-tagging?"
(That is what we are careful about that when we hold hearings on people who have been accused [of corruption.] They have been accused of a crime. 'This person is corrupt.' What's that? 'Corrupt-tagging'?)
The Constitution guarantees the presumption of innocence, but red-tagging as done by agencies like the NTF-ELCAC paint entire organizations as communist fronts and labels activists as people on their way to being communist rebels, an assertion that is statistically untrue and improbable.
Lacson's 'concerns'
Earlier this month, Lacson expressed concern that a rival presidential bet may be planning a coalition government with the Communist Party of the Philippines, New People's Army and National Democratic Front.
Although he did not name Vice President Leni Robredo, he referred to her when he shared a news report that cited the allegations of Rep. Jesus Crispin "Boying" Remulla (Cavite) who claimed that many students present at Robredo's rally in General Trias, Cavite seemed to be "from the Left."
Lacson drew flak for his comment, and clarified that he was not "red-tagging anybody."
The Robredo campaign as well as the CPP have clarified that there are no talks of a coalition government, with the CPP saying it has not endorsed anyone in the May polls nor will it do so.
Lacson maintained his stand on Wednesday, saying that groups that accused him of red-tagging were putting words in his mouth and spreading "fake news."
Drilon bill seeks to penalize red-tagging
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon in 2021 filed a bill penalizing red-tagging when done by government officials.
The proposed measure, which has no hope of passage by the 18th Congress because of lack of time, penalizes "the act of labeling, vilifiying, branding, naming, accusing, harassing, persecuting, stereotyping, or caricaturing individuals, groups, or organizations as state enemies, left-leaning, subversives, communists, or terrorists as part of a counter-insurgency or antiterrorism strategy or program, by any state actor."
"Any person found guilty of red-tagging shall be imprisoned for ten years and shall suffer the accessory penalty of perpetual absolute disqualification to hold public office," Senate Bill 2121 reads.
The bill seeks to reverse the "institutionalization and normalization of human rights violations" brought about by red-tagging, and put a halt to attacks against members of the legal profession who are often at the receiving end of such accusations.
On Wednesday, twenty six activists, religious groups and student leaders filed before the Ombudsman three separate administrative complaints against Presidential Communications Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy, also a spokesperson of the government's anti-communist task force, after she baselessly alleged that Robredo has entered into an alliance with the CPP.