Kabataan PL accuses Sara of ‘red-tagging'; OVP says she's only telling truth

Kabataan party-list Representative Raoul Manuel on Thursday called Vice President Sara Duterte the new “red-tagging queen,” a claim which her spokesperson denied.

In a press conference of the Makabayan bloc, Manuel raised concerns about alleged red-tagging issues in the government, particularly by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), against protesters who stand for the indigenous community.

He said even National Security Adviser Clarita Carlos shunned the labeling of individuals as communists in government, saying it is not productive

“Patuloy pa rin ‘yug red-tagging operations, pagpapakalat ng posters, tarpaulin at mismong ‘yung ating DepEd Secretary na si Sara Duterte ay nangunguna. Siya ngayon ‘yung primary figurehead ... tila ba siya ‘yung pumalit para maging red-tagging queen sa ating bansa,” Manuel said.

(Red-tagging operations are still ongoing through the spreading of posters and tarpaulins, and our DepEd Secretary Sara Duterte is leading the way....It seems Duterte is now the red-tagging queen in our country.)

In response to this, Duterte’s spokesperson Reynold Munsayac reiterated the earlier statement of the Vice President that she was only telling the truth and not red-tagging Makabayan when she said that the coalition persuaded some of the youth to join the New People’s Army (NPA) and ruined their future.

“Kagaya po ng nasabi na ng ating Vice President Inday Sara Duterte, ang pagsasabi po ng katotohanan ay hindi red-tagging,” he said in a message to reporters.

“Palagi din po siyang may panahon na sabihin ang katotohanan ukol sa Makabayan bloc upang tuluyan na mawakasan ang kanilang panlilinlang sa sambayanan, lalo na sa sektor ng kabataan,” he added.

(As our Vice President Inday Sara Duterte has already said, telling the truth is not red-tagging. She also always has time to tell the truth about the Makabayan bloc so that their deception of the people, especially of the youth, will end.)

Duterte and the House of Representatives Makabayan bloc earlier traded barbs after the former claimed that the Lumad schools closed in the Davao region in 2019 were allegedly run by teacher volunteers linked with terrorist groups.

Duterte, who also serves as Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary, said that the Lumad schools were all shut down because they were “illegally operating” due to a lack of permits and documents to prove their legitimacy.

This was, however, refuted by the Makabayan bloc, saying that the schools were shut down “through a combination of sheer intimidation, state terror and denial of due process” and not due to the claims of Duterte.—LDF, GMA News