‘Red-tagging claims derail antiterror drive’

MANILA, Philippines — The administration’s critics are claiming to be targets of red-tagging in order to derail the government’s antiterrorism campaign, Severo Catura, the undersecretary of the Presidential Human Rights Committee Secretariat, said on Friday.

“I think that term is simply to diminish the value of having a very effective anti-terror law, and at the same time, it wishes to diminish the efforts of the government to address terrorism in our midst. So it’s all about using the same term to really move forward an agenda that they are being persecuted when, in fact, they are not,” he said in an online press briefing.

If the government was really red-tagging groups and individuals, there would have been cases of unjust detention, suppression, and harassment, he said.

The antiterrorism law has its fair share of controversy and is facing numerous legal challenges on the Supreme Court for its allegedly vague and broad definition of terrorism and for its provisions that allow the detention of suspects without a warrant.

The government “has never red-tagged anyone,” Catura said.

He said any statement linking groups or individuals to the communist insurgency were based on the pronouncements of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison, who had identified groups supportive of his organization, which advocates the violent overthrow of the government.

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier identified several militant groups as communist fronts, and called its members criminals for conspiring to overthrow the government.

The act of one is the act of all, he said.

Legal front cover

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana also said on Friday that there was a basis for the President’s statements linking individuals to communist groups.

“From the start, we knew who are linked to the Communist Party of the Philippines and the [National Democratic Front of the Philippines, or NDFP]. They just use a legal front cover, but their objective is to help the CPP-NPA [New People’s Army],” Lorenzana said at an online briefing.

The military may not be able to produce their membership cards, but this would not be necessary anyway as their actions speak for themselves.

“Their actions—what they are doing every day—prove that they are members of the communist party,” he said.

The military will step up its watch on communist insurgents in the run-up to the CPP’s anniversary on Dec. 26, Lorenzana said, after the President ruled out any holiday ceasefire with the group.

Lorenzana said the Armed Forces of the Philippines had not raised its alert status against the NPA and was continuing its usual anti-insurgency operations, especially in remote areas.

“There has been no change. Maybe we will intensify operations a bit while the anniversary of the CPP-NPA-NDFP on Dec. 26 gets closer,” he said.

“They have been committing violence, probably to show the people that they are still here and they have not disappeared,” he added.