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Karapatan calls Duterte, AFP paranoid over Red-tagging of schools
By JOSEPH TRISTAN ROXAS,GMA NewsHuman rights group Karapatan on Friday criticized President Rodrigo Duterte and the Armed Forces of the Philippines over the military's claim that the Communist Party of the Philippines was actively recruiting in several universities.
"Duterte and AFP are on a roll in spewing one fantastic unbelievable conspiracy theory after the other. They are on a hyperstate of political fentanyl overdose," Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay told GMA News Online.
Armed Forces Chief of Staff Carlito Galvez Jr. had earlier claimed that the Communist Party of the Philippines was recruiting students
from several universities as part of "Red October," a supposed ouster plot against the Duterte administration."Their allegation that the screenings of films on martial law in schools, the red-tagging of schools, and their other alleged stupendous proof of the existence of Red October show the height of paranoia of these psychopaths," Palabay said.
"Tagging activities which are exercises of freedom of expression and speech, of association and academic freedom as part of a 'destabilization plot' are excuses to promote worse right violations," she added.
Anti-Marcos group Block Marcos, meanwhile, warned that the opposition may be in danger now that the administration is going after student movements.
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"This is a patent act of intimidation and an affront against academic freedom, as well as the right to freedom of speech and assembly. Both the university and the youth have historically been at the forefront of resisting the tyranny of the state," the group said in a statement.
The group said Duterte and the AFP opted to undermine the role of academic institutions in the critical thinking of the youth instead of focusing on issues that led to some of the sector's dissent.
"Rather than facing the historical failure and refusal to eradicate the roots of insecurity, discontent, and rebellion, the state has, time and again, defaulted to vilifying the very people they owe much to," Block Marcos said.
Among the activities the military had pointed to as evidence of this is the screening of films about the Martial Law years, which it said rouses students to rebel against the government by likening Duterte's administration to the regime of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
Majority of the schools tagged by the military already denied that their campuses are recruitment hubs for communist groups. —NB, GMA News