Terrorist-tagging, CIDG subpoena power 'prelude' to crackdown on progressive groups, Zarate says

The move of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to tag at least 600 individuals as terrorists and the granting of subpoena powers to select officials of the Philippine National Police (PNP) are the "prelude" of an intensified crackdown against members of progressive organizations.

Bayan Muna party-list Representative Carlos Zarate made the remark on Sunday after contents of the DOJ's petition to a local court seeking to officially declare the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA) as a terrorist organization revealed that 600 individuals, including former congressman Satur Ocampo and a United Nations special rapporteur are being sought to be also tagged as terrorists.

Last week, President Rodrigo Duterte signed a law restoring the power to issue subpoena to some officials of the PNP's Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

"It would not also be a surprise if the PNP-CIDG would abuse their newly minted subpoena powers to harass and oppress progressives," Zarate said in a statement.

Among those that the DOJ wanted to be tagged as terrorists are Bayan Muna President and former Representative Satur Ocampo, Bayan Muna officer Vicente Ladlad, staff Brenda Viernes and Bayan Muna coordinator Sherwin De Vera as well as Anakpawis party-list chairman Randall Echanis and former SELDA officer Eliza Lubi.

Also included are UN Special Rapporteur Victiora Tauli-Corpuz and indigenous peoples' rights advocates Beverly Longid, Windell Bolingit and lawyer Jose Molintas.

Zarate said the DOJ petition is a "virtual order of battle" and a part of the state's vilification campaign against the progressive individuals.

"It is straight out of the bag off tricks of the past regimes, like the dictator [Ferdinand] Marcos and the hated [Gloria] Macapagal-Arroyo regimes that also tried and failed to suppress and eliminate their principled and organized critics and the opposition," he said.

Zarate maintained that the allegations in the DOJ petition are utterly false.

Instead of recognizing the causes of these groups, Zarate said the Duterte administration is only further pursuing "terrorist-tagging."

"In fact, the reverse is true: the state, then and even now, unleashes terrorism to quell the growing peoples' dissent against widespread poverty, unemployment and human rights violations," he said.

Even then, Zarate urged his colleagues and the individuals listed in the DOH petition to fight back and not be cowed by these threats.

"This virtual Duterte-regime hit list must be scrapped. We call on the people to fight this fake terrorist-tagging and  frustrate the unfolding tyrannical rule in our country," he said. —ALG, GMA News