Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 18) — Former and current lawmakers in Southeast Asia are calling for an end to what they call a ‘vicious and dangerous’ red-tagging campaign of the Duterte administration against Philippine legislators who are critical of the government.
“How can lawmakers be expected to fulfill their role as a check on the executive when they themselves are being attacked?” Charles Santiago, chairman of the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, said on Wednesday in a statement.
“We urgently call on President [Rodrigo] Duterte and the Philippine government to stop labeling directly-elected representatives as terrorists, and allow opposition lawmakers to effectively fulfill their mandates and freely express their opinions,” he also said.
The appeal comes as officials continue to link to the communist group the Makabayan bloc in Congress which consists of Representatives Sarah Jane Elago, Carlos Zarate, Eufemia Cullamat, Ferdinand Gaite, Arlene Brosas, and France Castro.
Santiago, who is a member of Malaysia’s parliament, noted that the red-tagging campaign, in which Duterte has “taken a lead role,” has had “extremely violent consequences in the Philippines,” including deaths.
“Let’s be clear: Not only do the President’s actions attempt to silence political opposition and undermine democracy,” he pointed out, “but they also directly put people’s lives at risk, particularly those who oppose his agenda.”
Mu Sochua, an APHR Board Member and former parliamentarian in Cambodia, also urged lawmakers in the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries to condemn the practice of red-tagging in the country “particularly by government officials towards political opponents.”
Duterte, in a Nov. 30 speech, clarified that officials are not just red-tagging the Makabayan bloc of lawmakers and some progressive groups but actually identifying them as legal fronts of communist rebels. Those who were tagged have denied the allegations, with Zarate branding them as “lies and fake news” without the backing of evidence that can stand up in court.
Other accused officials, including anti-communist task force vice chairman Hermogenes Esperon, Jr., have sung the same tune as Duterte, saying they have not red-tagged anyone. Esperon earlier said it was communist leader Jose Maria Sison himself who had named the fronts of the CPP.
Earlier, human rights lawyers’ group National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, independent think tank Ibon Foundation, human rights group Karapatan, and Representatives Zarate and Elago, sued before the Office of the Ombudsman government officials who linked them to the communist rebels. Among these officials are Esperon, Antonio Parlade, Jr., and Lorraine Marie Badoy, all of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.
In 2017, Duterte walked away from peace negotiations with communist rebels as both sides accused each other of ceasefire violations. In the same year, he signed a proclamation designating the CPP and its armed wing New People’s Army as terrorists.
Those designated can only be proscribed or outlawed by the Court of Appeals under the anti-terrorism law. But the government’s bid to proscribe the CPP-NPA as a terrorist organization has not yet been approved.
