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Gov’t not engaged in ‘red-tagging’ — OSG


The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) on Tuesday addressed allegations that the government had linked organizers of community parties to the communist movement.

At the resumption of oral arguments on the anti-terror law, Assistant Solicitor General Marissa Dela Cruz-Galandines told the Supreme Court (SC) the government was not engaged in “red-tagging.”

“The government would not like to use the term ‘red-tagging.’ Because red-tagging is a term that was not coined by the government. If I may say this, the term ‘red-tagging’ was used by the leftists,” Galandines said.

“It is the submission of the government that what it does is truth-tagging, and not red-tagging.”

Galandines made the statement after SC Associate Justice Ricardo Rosario asked her how the government would ensure that the anti-terror law will not be used to target suspects of terrorism on mere suspicion.

Critics earlier slammed police officers over the profiling of community pantry organizers whose main objective was to provide aid to the poor amid the COVID-19 crisis.

The Philippine National Police denied last month that there was a directive to profile organizers even as the government’s anti-insurgency task force had admitted that background checks were conducted.

But profiling persons without consent could be a violation of the data privacy law, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said.

Unauthorized processing of personal information and sensitive personal information is punishable by imprisonment of up to three years and a fine ranging from P500,000 to P2 million under the Data Privacy Law (Republic Act 10173). — RSJ, GMA News

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