EDITORIAL - No to red-tagging

Too bad he has only two weeks left in office, and too bad his views were apparently brushed aside by the concerned agency. Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said this week that instead of labeling certain individuals or groups as communists or sympathizers, appropriate charges should be filed against them if there is sufficient evidence.

Guevarra said he had relayed this to the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, which has been accused of red-tagging activists critical of the Duterte administration. NTF-ELCAC officials have denied this, saying they simply get their information from materials posted by the Communist Party of the Philippines itself and its political arm, the National Democratic Front. The CPP and NDF together with their armed wing, the New People’s Army, are listed as terrorist organizations in the Philippines, the European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom and several other countries.

There are laws against terrorism and charges based on these laws can be filed against those who engage in the listed offenses. The secretary of justice is a member of the Anti-Terrorism Council, which identifies the persons or groups to be classified as terrorists.

Guevarra agreed with the lament of activists who deny links to the CPP-NPA-NDF, that red-tagging puts their lives at risk. If there is no solid evidence for such labeling and there is no cause to file formal charges, Guevarra says the better tack is a whole of nation approach that among other things entices suspected insurgents to return to the fold of the law.

The incoming national security adviser, retired University of the Philippines political science professor Clarita Carlos, also frowns on red-tagging, and echoes Guevarra’s call for the filing of formal charges if evidence warrants. There are existing laws detailing a wide range of offenses, which can be invoked in filing such complaints, Carlos has said. The national security adviser sits as the vice chair of the NTF-ELCAC. Perhaps she will be more receptive to the views expressed by Guevarra, and act accordingly.