Groups want Duterte to answer for attacks vs. dissenters

Human rights workers and a student group on Tuesday condemned President Rodrigo Duterte for his fresh statements accusing progressive organizations of being fronts of communist rebels.

Human rights group Karapatan said Duterte and officials of the government's anti-insurgency task force "must be held accountable for their brazen commission and encouragement of human rights violations and war crimes."

"These forms of political repression and attacks against dissenters must stop," Karapatan said, adding that these worsen the climate of impunity in the Philippines and attempt to cover up what it said was the government's failure to address poverty and other socioeconomic issues.

In a televised briefing Monday night, Duterte accused the Makabayan Bloc of the House of Representatives, Bayan, and Gabriela of being fronts of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its negotiating arm, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

Duterte claimed these organizations are part of a "grand conspiracy" against the government.

Karapatan said Duterte's repeated statements labelling various groups as "terrorists" and "communist fronts" reflect the government policy of red-tagging, a practice which it said has led to extrajudicial killings, illegal arrests and detentions, fake or forced surrenders, and other human rights violations.

The group said this "pattern of violations" has been called by the Philippine Commission on Human Rights and many independent experts from the United Nations.

The League of Filipino Students (LFS), for its part, said Duterte is the "number one red-tagger" who emboldens police and military forces in labeling people and organizations as communist members or fronts.

“May dugo sa mga kamay ni Duterte at siya ang sisihin at may pananagutan sa lahat ng paglabag sa karapatang-pantao at war crimes dahil sa kanyang mga utos!” LFS spokesperson James Carwyn Candila said in a statement.

Candila claimed that Duterte and the "rotten system" have driven many to fight both in the cities and in the countryside.

He said the LFS -- which described Duterte as "red-tagger in chief" in its statement -- demands a resumption of peace talks between the government and the left.

Duterte began his presidency with peace negotiations but the talks collapsed and he proclaimed the CPP and its armed wing New People's Army as terrorist organizations in December 2017.

A court declaration is required to officially outlaw the groups and a petition for this purpose has been pending with a Manila court since 2018. —KBK, GMA News