Gatchalian thumbs down red-tagging sans evidence

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Monday joined personalities and organizations opposed to linking individuals and groups to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) without concrete evidence.

"I trust that the government has solid intelligence, solid information when they come out and tag certain personalities, but the basic concept here is you have to have the evidence or else, this is just purely malicious," he told CNN Philippines.

"If you don't have the evidence, I think it's wrong to tag the individuals," he added.

The senator, however, said he has yet to study proposals to criminalize red-tagging.

The Senate panel on national defense and security, led by Senator Panfilo Lacson, held a series of hearings on the alleged red-tagging perpetrated by the military against militant and progressive groups, including the Makabayan Bloc in the House of Representatives.

During the hearing, self-confessed former communist rebels were presented by the security sector. They claim, through testimonies, that the party-lists represented by the Makabayan bloc are fronts of the CPP — an allegation refuted by the bloc.

Militant groups dared the security sector to bring their allegations to court if they have concrete evidence.

Lacson expressed openness to criminalize red-tagging but stressed that the Constitution should be the "ultimate guide."

"One major issue to be addressed if we are to criminalize red-tagging or red-baiting is if it will infringe on our Constitution's provision ensuring freedom of expression and freedom of speech. This is a basic right that cannot be violated," he said.

"That said, there are opposing views that such freedom is not absolute — that is why we have laws penalizing libel and cyber-libel," added Lacson, a former national police chief.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III, meanwhile, said that those who were wrongly accused of being communist rebels can file libel cases instead of seeking a new law.

National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon, a retired Army general, said the state security forces do not engage in red-tagging, claiming that it was CPP founding chairman Jose Maria Sison, in a video footage, who actually identified the front organizations of the communist rebels.

Sison, in self-imposed exile in the Netherlands, has refuted this allegation and said the video of his speech was spliced by the military to distort its context. —KBK, GMA News