UNRESOLVED KILLINGS The families and friends of activists killed in Negros Island and Iloilo City demand justice during a candle-lighting protest in Iloilo City held following the killing of Zara Alvarez, a former education director of human rights group Karapatan, on Aug. 17, 2020 in Bacolod City. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — A bill that would make red-tagging punishable by up to 10 years in prison and disqualify persons convicted of such an act from holding public office has been filed in the Senate.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon filed Senate Bill No. 2121, which seeks to criminalize red-tagging and provide for penalties “in order to fix the legal gaps, address impunity and institutionalize a system of accountability.”
“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 bill’s explanatory note.
Under the bill, the crime of red-tagging is defined as the “act of labeling, vilifying, branding, naming, accusing, harassing, persecuting, stereotyping, or caricaturing individuals, groups, or organizations as state enemies, left-leaning, subversives, communists, or terrorists as part of a counter-insurgency or anti-terrorism strategy or program, by any state actor, such as law enforcement agent, paramilitary, or military personnel.”
“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,” according to the measure.
No legal remedy for red-tagged victims
Drilon, a former justice secretary, said “there are no sufficient and available” legal remedies for victims of red-tagging “contrary to popular assertions.”
“Victims are left without proper recourse against their perpetrators and are forced to file seemingly-appropriate-but-not-quite cases, like libel and grave threats. The gravamens of these offenses, however, are far from the essence of red-tagging,” he said.
Drilon noted that a complaint for libel, or grave threats “is not appropriate where a state agent vilifies a person as an enemy of the state, thereby impinging on the rights of that individual.”
He further said that his bill will serve as a reminder to the government of its primary duty under the Constitution to serve and protect the people.
This, as he lamented how red-tagging has “threatened the very life, liberty and security of the vilified men and women.”
“It has resulted in serious human rights violations such as harassments, arbitrary arrests, detentions, and enforced disappearances,” he said.
“In some instances, being red-tagged is a prelude to death,” the senator warned.
Drilon cited the case of activist Zara Alvarez, who was among the 600 people listed as terrorists by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2018 in a proscription petition in the regional trial court of Manila. They were removed from the list after the petition was amended last year.
Last August 17, 2020, Alvarez was fatally shot by unidentified gunmen in Negros.
The minority leader also cited the killing of Dr. Mary Rose Sancelan, the only doctor in the Guihulngan City in Negros Oriental, who was included in the list of residents in the city accused by anti-communist vigilante group Kagubak of being supporters of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing.
Last December 2020, a lone gunman fatally shot the barrio doctor. She was the 6th person in the list who was killed, according to Drilon.
Members of the legal profession were not spared from attacks, Drilon also said.
The recent killings of and threats against lawyers and judges led Drilon and seven of his fellow lawyer-senators to file a resolution strongly condemning such acts of violence and urging President Rodrigo Duterte to ensure the safety of the members of the legal community in the country.
The resolution was adopted by the Senate on Wednesday, with all members of the chamber made as co-authors.