NUJP insists red-tagging a gov’t policy despite official’s denial

While the government denies that Red-tagging is a state policy, the experiences of journalists on the ground show that it has put their lives at risk, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said on Thursday.

The NUJP was reacting to a statement made earlier by Jonathan Malaya, assistant director general of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac), that Red-tagging—or accusing someone of being part of a communist group—was never a government policy.

“What Mr. Malaya and the NTF-Elcac cannot deny [is] that Red-tagging is a malicious imputation that damages the subjects’ reputations and is an act that can and has put them at risk of harassment and worse,” the group said in a statement.

It added that Red-tagging was “basically the vilification of dissent and of critical reportage,” which government agencies and officials have been accused of doing on numerous occasions, not just to journalists but to activists and human rights defenders. “The only reason we do not sue these Red-taggers for libel is our principled belief that libel should be decriminalized in the first place,” the NUJP said.

Red-tagging was one of the biggest concerns raised by the NUJP and 40 other civil society organizations in the reports they submitted to United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression Irene Khan, who ends her 10-day official visit to the country on Feb. 2. Progressive groups met with Khan last week to recommend the abolition of the NTF-Elcac, which they said was being used by the government for Red-tagging and other forms of harassment, such as unwarranted surveillance.

But Malaya, who also met with Khan to explain the task force’s purpose, said her visit was an opportunity to show the absence of a Red-tagging policy.

“In fact, the Marcos administration has not issued any law, rule, executive order or policy instrument that implements Red-tagging or even uses the word Red-tagging,” he said. He added that the Supreme Court had ruled that mere filing of legal suits against persons suspected of being a member of the communist group “was also not an actual threat to one’s life, liberty, and security.” On the other hand, Paul Gutierrez, executive director of the Presidential Task Force on Media Security, said the government was able to show Khan the state of human rights and media in the country.

“Despite the negative reports reaching the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, her visit helped enlighten the UN that not all reports reaching it are true. Our government adequately addresses these problems, and our justice system is strong and well-appreciated by Khan,” he said in an interview over Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon.