MANILA, Philippines — The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines pushed back at the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict’s red-tagging of several media organizations simply for reporting on a complaint filed against one of their officials.
The NUJP, in a statement on Monday, pointed out that the latest red-tagging claim of the NTF-ELCAC was based on the “flimsiest reasons.”
Although it is an absurd accusation, the NTF-ELCAC's claim is no less dangerous given how similar allegations were used to justify the takeover and silencing of the press in 1972 pic.twitter.com/1TdGJCY3G1
— NUJP (@nujp) March 28, 2022
Although unidentified in the statement, NTF-ELCAC official Lorraine Badoy accused mainstream media of not reporting dismantled guerilla fronts, last week in a program by SMNI as posted on a social card on the task force's Facebook page.
When she was sued before the Office of the Ombudsman, she called out five media organizations who wanted to interview her “out of the blue.” Based on Badoy’s statements, news people asking to interview her in reaction to the filing is proof “that media is part of the network of the Communist Party of the Philippines.”
But the NUJP refuted Badoy’s claims and pointed out that mainstream media has police and military beat reports who cover the government’s anti-insurgency operations.
“But the very existence of the NTF-ELCAC is recognition that these operations are just part of the government’s strategy,” it added.
The journalists’ union stressed: “The effects of and reactions to another part of the strategy, which has so far involved accusing activists, journalists, rights workers, nuns, volunteer teachers community pantry organizers — and, just recently, the mayor of a regional hub in the northern Philippines — of communist links or support are also matters of public interest.”
The NUJP added that NTF-ELCAC’s “absurd accusation” is still dangerous as it echoes allegations that were used to justify the takeover and silencing of the press in 1972, during the start of Martial Law.
“The easiest way for the task force to stop media from reporting about red-tagging is to stop doing it and to recognize that the Constitution recognizes both the presumption of innocence and the freedom of the press,” the NUJP added.
On March 23, 26 activists, religious groups, teachers, and student leaders accused Badoy — a medical doctor by training but who now speaks for the NTF-ELCAC — of violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.
This comes after Badoy baselessly accused Vice President Leni Robredo of entering into an alliance with the Communist Party of the Philippines, pointing to the endorsement she received from the progressive Makabayan bloc, which has long been accused by the government of being a communist front group.
Badoy has denied that her task force practices red-tagging, preferring to call its conflating activists with armed combatants as "truth-tagging."
The NTF-ELCAC has also been caught spreading false information on more than one occasion in order to justify its red-tagging.
This is not the first time complaints have been filed against Badoy as similar petitions have already been lodged by groups like the IBON Foundation, human rights group Karapatan, and the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers. — with reports from Franco Luna