Human rights groups urge President to end red-tagging practice
Human rights organizations have called on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to put an end to the practice of red-tagging and to abolish the government task force known for vilifying activists and critics as supporters of the country’s communist insurgency.
Karapatan and Human Rights Watch (HRW) made these calls following a Supreme Court declaration that red-tagging poses a threat to people’s life, liberty, and security, and could warrant the issuance of a protection order.
Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay emphasized that red-tagging has long endangered the lives, security, and liberty of human rights activists, political dissenters, and ordinary Filipinos, many of whom have been victims of various human rights violations.
HRW urged Marcos to publicly endorse the Supreme Court ruling and to take measures to stop red-tagging, as well as to discipline or prosecute government officials engaging in the practice. The groups also called for the abolition of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), which has been red-tagging activists, indigenous leaders, and journalists since its establishment in 2018.
According to HRW senior Asia researcher Carlos Conde, the Marcos administration should abandon red-tagging by eliminating the task force promoting the practice. Palabay criticized NTF-ELCAC for fabricating lies to quell dissent and for launching attacks on individuals and organizations.
The Supreme Court ruling, which highlighted the dangers of associating individuals with communists through red-tagging, originated from a petition filed by activist Siegfred Deduro. United Nations experts have recognized the harmful effects of red-tagging and have called for the dismantling of NTF-ELCAC.
In 2020, the United Nations Human Rights Office described red-tagging as a persistent threat to civil society and freedom of expression, noting that it diverts attention from the substance of the message by discrediting the messengers.
