NUJP slams Red-tagging of its former chair

MANILA, Philippines — The National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP) slammed the Red-tagging of its former chair Rowena Carranza Paraan.

In a statement, NUJP said a social media post by a certain Aram de la Cruz had put Paraan in danger, when he posted a photo of Paraan and linked her to the New People’s Army (NPA).

In reality, the photo was taken from a training session facilitated by Paraan and attended by other women journalists in 2013.

“The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines condemns the malicious and deplorable use of photographs of the first all-women media safety training held in the Philippines to Red-tag our former chair, colleagues and the NUJP,” the group said.

Paraan is currently the program manager of ABS-CBN’s citizen reporting arm, “Bayan Mo, iPatrol Mo.”

The post accusing Paraan of being a member of the NPA was captioned in Filipino, and alluded to Paraan’s membership in the militant insurgency.

The group photo was taken by photojournalist Vic Kintanar at Malasag Eco-Tourism Village in Cagayan de Oro City in 2013.

The Eco-Tourism Village was the venue of the first All-Women Risk Awareness and Media Safety Training, and showed a simulation exercise on administering first aid to an injured person.