Red-tagging a ‘prelude to acts of suppression’ — Poe
MANILA, Philippines — Senator Grace Poe on Tuesday warned that red-tagging could often lead to “acts of suppression.”
“Ang problema lang kasi sa red-tagging o kung anumang label…it is often a ‘dog whistle’ that is a prelude to acts of suppression,” Poe said during the Senate hearing on alleged red-tagging activities of military officials.
READ: Parlade, military leadership face Senate probe into ‘red-tagging’ of celebrities, groups
Red-tagging, Poe also said, “sweeps the message under the label of the rug.”
“Parang ang playbook ay i-tag muna, tapos having cast that person as an outcast, arrest or detention follows. Parang cancel culture, Pinoy version. I will besmirch you first, and having cast you a Pariah, then you will be evicted out of the ‘democratic space,’ either by social ostracism, or worse, detention or the ultimate form of censorship, which is death,” the senator said.
“If the mere intention of red-tagging is to marginalize, then that’s par for the course. Pero if it becomes a clear and present physical danger to the tagged, diyan malaki ang mali,” she added.
‘Identity marking’
Further, Poe said “identity marking suppresses debate on an idea.”
“Sarado na kaagad ang isip natin. It is an attempt to automatically disenfranchise people who may hold unpopular beliefs. And we should always remember our Constitution extends protection even to minority ideas which we disagree with,” the senator said.
“Instead of debating, tagging is like painting the Star of David or the sign of the cross on the homes of persecuted Christians and Jews. So when people call a person Stalin or even a general, Hitler, then your personalities are reduced to labels which are unfair to both groups,” she added.
Poe lamented this “unfortunate ecosystem” the country faces today.
“Political tribalism has created a culture of identification politics instead of idea politics. We look for the motive instead of the message. DDS ‘yan o Dilawan ‘yan, end of discussion na kaagad,” she said.
“Debates don’t get elevated. More often it is a race to the gutter,” she added.
‘All colors in the flag’
Poe also pointed out that political discourse should involve “all the colors in the flag–red, blue, yellow, white.”
“I have always believed that we have to provide democratic space for ideas to contend, for as long as it is done peacefully…We lose that rich diversity if politics is monopolized by one color only,” she said.
“While I advocate big-tent politics, I, however, believe that there is a price to pay to enter and behavior to be observed. And that is one should only pursue that ideology without resorting to armed means,” she added.
Meanwhile, Poe said that any individual should not be penalized for “harboring thoughts.”
“[B]ut when one uses or endorses the use of violence to promote or enforce that thought on many, then it crosses the line of illegal,” she, nevertheless, said.
