De Lima denounces red-tagging of Zambales lawyer

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Leila De Lima on Saturday slammed the alleged red-tagging of a lawyer based in Zambales province on a Facebook page that has been pushing the campaigns of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.

De Lima deplored how lawyer Carlos Castillo Jr. was branded as a terrorist by the Facebook page “Lakbay Kapayapaan.”

“For responding to the call for urgent legal assistance of arrested youth activists, Atty. Castillo is now being called a terrorist,” she said.

Castillo is the lawyer of 11 members of the League of Filipino Students arrested at a checkpoint in Zambales while on their way to a Labor Day rally in Angeles City on May 1.

—MELVIN GASCON