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Makabayan solons slam ‘relentless red-tagging’ of activists amid calamity, pandemic

By ERWIN COLCOL,GMA News

Members of the Makabayan Bloc on Tuesday slammed military officials for their continuous "red-tagging" of activists, saying they should have been helping in the government's response efforts following the onslaught of Super Typhoon Rolly.

In a statement, Gabriela Women's Party Representative Arlene Brosas condemned the "shameless and relentless red-tagging and terror-tagging" of the Duterte administration's top generals against progressive groups and individuals during a Senate panel hearing earlier in the day.

"Tila mas naghanda pa sila para sa Senate hearing kaysa sa pagsaklolo at paglilikas sa ating mga kababayan. They went full force in the Senate hearing with their recycled and baseless claims while millions of Filipinos are reeling from the disastrous impacts of typhoon Rolly amid the pandemic," she said.

"This red-tagging show is a waste of people's taxes. It must be put to an end," she added.

Among those who attended the hearing were Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, and Armed Forces chief General Gilbert Gapay.

Also in the hearing were National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) spokesperson Lieutenant General Antonio Parlade Jr., National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon, and Presidential Communications Operations Office Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy.

None of the members of the Makabayan Bloc attended the hearing, as they were participating in relief efforts for those affected by the recent typhoon.

Brosas maintained that the Senate only wasted people's time and money for indulging in the testimonies of the witnesses the military presented during the hearing while covering up dangers of the controversial Anti-Terrorism Law of 2020 and the NTF-ELCAC's P19.1 billion budget for next year.

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“This Senate inquiry, as it appears, is geared towards further endangering our lives and safety instead of protecting free speech and other fundamental rights. By repeatedly accusing us as terrorists, these generals desperately seek to weaponize the Anti-Terror Law draconian terms against us," she said.

"A Senate hearing is not a proper venue to ferret out the truth behind these preposterous allegations against duly elected partylists. If the Cabinet security cluster has indeed evidence, they should go to court instead of repeatedly resorting to the court of public opinion," she added.

For her part, ACT Teachers party-list Representative France Castro believes that what came out during the Senate hearing were "more terror-tagging and baseless accusations" against her and her fellow Makabayan lawmakers. 

"They are using this Senate hearing to justify the general's pork under the NTF-ELCAC and push back from the backlash they got from red-tagging celebrities, personalities, institutions and organizations," she said.

"Inulit lamang ang matagal na nilang script na matagal na rin nating pinabulaanang mga kasinungalingan at walang basehan. Matagal na ring binasura ng ilang korte at comelec ang mga akusasyon nila laban sa Makabayan Bloc," she added.

Castro insisted that the public continues to suffer from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as the government failed to provide adequate medical solutions and instead focused on restricting the rights and freedoms of individuals and groups critical of it.

"This administration continues to terror-tag and criminalize anyone who chooses to defend their rights and calls for legitimate demands for justice, basic social services as terrorists," she said.

"The Duterte administration should realize that as they continue to red-tag anyone and everyone who exercises their basic democratic freedoms, they are only further exposing themselves as the true terrorists of this country using the people's money to curtail the people's rights," she added. — BM, GMA News