A lawmaker is now pushing in the Senate to directly imprison (up to 10 years) a government employee who will merely link any individual or group with communist rebels such as the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA).
In a statement Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said he filed Senate Bill 2121 to make red-tagging a crime. He said it aims to fix “legal gaps” and institutionalize accountability.
“Any person found guilty of red-tagging shall be imprisoned for 10 years and shall suffer the accessory penalty of perpetual absolute disqualification to hold public office,” the bill said.
“The passage of this bill will reverse the ‘increasingly institutionalization and normalization of human rights violations and put a stop on the attacks against the members of the legal profession,” Drilon said in the explanatory note of the bill.
Drilon, who is also a lawyer, explained that libel or grave threat does not match whenever people are called “enemies of the state” like some activists, especially when the rights of some are violated.
10-year jail sentence vs ‘red-taggers’ pushed in Senate
Under the law, it is not illegal to be a communist or a member of the CPP. However, the armed NPAs were charged with rebellion. The Anti-Terrorism Council is free to designate people as “terrorists” under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2021 while formal prohibition or “proscription” is in the Court of Appeals.
According to Drilon, the government’s vilification campaign has several times resulted in threats to people’s lives, freedoms, and security – some have even died in the process.
“It has resulted in serious human rights violations such as harassments, arbitrary arrests, detentions, and enforced disappearances… In some instances, being red-tagged is a prelude to death,” he added.
One of those killed after being red-tagged was human rights activist Zara Alvarez on August 17, 2020. She was one of the state’s alleged “terrorists”.
Doctor Mary Rose Sancelan was also named as a CPP member in Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental until she was finally assassinated. He was the sixth to die on a released list.
The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and the police have red-tagged some media outfits, human rights workers, youth groups, etc., several times, calling them allies, members, or “mouthpieces” of the CPP-NPA. However, the Palace simply calls it “truth-tagging.”