CHR blasts efforts to trivialize, justify red-tagging

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has denounced efforts to trivialize and justify red-tagging and called on the government to follow due process, rule of law "before making grave accusations and labelling that endangers human rights and dignity."

The CHR on Monday said groups and personalities being red-tagged are subjected to various attacks ranging from “vilification, intrusion into a person’s right privacy due to surveillance, harassment, to grave ones, such as unlawful arrests, enforced disappearance, and even killings.”

"The current repressive political climate and prevailing impunity thus contradict the claim of a government spokesperson, stemming from an incorrectly re-worded Supreme Court decision, saying that "mere labelling of a group as a communist front is not an actual threat to one’s right to life, liberty, and security," the CHR said.

The Commission was referring to the statement of National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) spokesperson Lorraine T. Badoy during a press conference earlier this month in reaction to a bill seeking to criminalize red-tagging.

"How is it possible that our own legislators ignore what the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court have already made clear: that there is no such thing as 'Redtagging' because there is no danger to life, liberty and security when someone is identified as 'member of the CPP NPA NDF'?" she said.

"That's why it is worrisome that our senators, themselves, are using a word that our Supreme Court, the highest court of the land, said it doesn't exist.  There is no such thing, this is a weapon used by CPP-NPA-NDF to silence those who blow the cover of the legal fronts," she added.

The CHR explained that "In Zarate v. Aquino, the Supreme Court more accurately said that ‘[m]ere membership in these organizations or sectors cannot equate to an actual threat that would warrant the issuance of the writ of Amparo’."

“And as incidences show, red-tagging should not be taken lightly for it has serious repercussions, including the downplaying of legitimate dissent and making persons and organizations tagged open for further harm,” it added.

Badoy is currently facing multiple raps for linking several groups and personalities to the armed communists’ movements. Among them is the Makabayan bloc who filed a criminal complaint against the official for allegedly red-tagging presidential bet Vice President Leni Robredo.

The NTF-ELCAC, for their part, rejected the accusations and jointly signed and filed a counter-affidavit insisting the Omnibus Election Code  is “not a ban on freely expressing their opinions and views.”

The commission came in defense of Robredo and other candidates as regards the issue emphasizing that affiliating them with the insurgents “delegitimizes their specific advocacies that respond to the pressing human rights needs of the people” and may also result in the “exclusion of the legitimate concerns of vulnerable groups in the election discourse”.

In CHR’s findings in its national inquiry on the situation of human rights defenders (HRDs), key recommendations include for the government to “desist from red-tagging and labelling HRDs as terrorists or enemies of the State” and to “publicly acknowledge the legitimacy of the work of HRDs and seek to actively protect and promote the right to defend rights.”

"It is unfortunate that government officials—those with the primary obligation to respect and protect human rights—have been continuously resorting to red-tagging. This practice seriously negates their sworn duty to the people," the Commission said.

The Commission said that "it is expected that due process and rule of law are followed rigidly at all times before making grave accusations and labelling that endangers human rights and dignity. The government has the duty to create a climate conducive to human rights and human rights work."

"Deliberately engaging in practices that make certain individuals and sectors vulnerable to violence, harassment, and stigma negates the essence of government work, which is to uphold human rights and the dignity of all," it added. -- Sundy Locus/BAP, GMA News