A timely call to end Red-tagging

Overlooked amid reams of copy and headlines on Senate shenanigans the past three weeks was the Commission on Human Rights’ (CHR) call for an end to Red-tagging, the “pattern of labeling individuals and groups as ‘communists,’ ‘terrorists,’ or ‘enemies of the state,’ often without due process and through public and online platforms.”

The CHR’s call was drawn from its 2025 National Inquiry on the Current Situation of Human Rights Defenders in the Philippines with a Focus on Incidents of Red-Tagging, a follow up to a similar inquiry it conducted in 2019.

Six years on and Red-tagging still persists, the commission noted. The practice, it added, “exposes individuals to threats, harassment, and violence, and may serve as a precursor to grave human rights violations, including arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings.”

Most affected are “journalists, lawyers, students, labor leaders, indigenous peoples, and community organizers engaged in advocacy and civic work, as well as those voicing legitimate dissent on government policies,” the CHR pointed out.

‘Bloody Sunday’

Indeed, in the April 19 alleged encounter between the military and communist rebels in Toboso, Negros Occidental, several fatalities—students and researchers and a community journalist—were identified as combatants and Red fighters by the military, with Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. maintaining that all 19 killed in the incident were “armed” rebels and not civilians based on the soldiers’ accounts. Rights groups however have challenged this official version, demanding evidence and photos to back up the military’s claims.

Most targets of this practice were relentlessly Red-tagged in photos, posters and hit lists before they were killed. They include Zara Alvarez, a legal worker for the rights group Karapatan, who was shot dead in Bacolod in August 2020. In what became known as “Bloody Sunday,” nine labor and rights activists were killed in military raids across the Calabarzon region in March 2021. Similarly gunned down after being Red-tagged were Bayan Muna coordinator Jory Porquia in Iloilo in April 2020, and environmental activist Bernardino Patigas in Negros Occidental in April 2019.

Judges, too, were targeted, including Judge Monique Quisumbing-Ignacio of the Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court (RTC) and Judge Marlo Magdoza-Malagar of Manila RTC in 2021 and 2022, for their rulings that favored Red-tagged defendants.

Landmark ruling

Such lethal abuse of authority prompted the Supreme Court to formally declare that Red-tagging, vilification, and guilt by association constitute a clear threat to a person’s right to life, liberty, or security in a landmark ruling in May 2024.

This judicial pushback is not enough however, as other government agencies continue to Red-tag critics to discourage dissent, with the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict receiving a hefty budget: P8.08 billion in 2026, in stark contrast to the proposed P1,000 budget for the CHR in 2017. The Commission of Audit has repeatedly flagged the task force however for its perennial underutilization of funds and inability to undertake projects to fulfill its mandate of clearing barangays of insurgency through development projects.

Despite the high court’s action, there is no specific law defining or penalizing Red-tagging as a distinct offense, nor government policy banning it, the CHR noted. Such limitation has resulted in fragmented protection and barriers to access to justice, compounded by challenges such as impunity and the misuse of legal processes, the agency added.

In its inquiry, the CHR called on the Executive department to adopt a comprehensive policy prohibiting the practice of Red-tagging, and for it to strengthen existing administrative mechanisms to ensure effective access to remedies. A rights approach to countering terrorism, violent extremism, and insurgency could help as well, the CHR rightfully noted.

Amparo and habeas data

Just as crucial is the swift passage of a law penalizing Red-tagging, and a thorough review of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 and the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012 to fortify protection for rights defenders, the commission said.

The CHR also asked the Supreme Court to revisit the rules governing the issuance of special protective writs, such as amparo and habeas data, and to promote proactive legal assistance to rights defenders, particularly those who are marginalized and vulnerable. As it should.

While the state retains the duty to ensure peace and security, such measures must always be carried out in accordance with its obligations to respect, protect, and fulfill human rights, the CHR said.

Ultimately, the CHR’s national inquiry noted, “upholding the dignity, safety, and freedom of human rights defenders is integral to strengthening democratic space and the rule of law.”

It is a timely call, given how laws have recently been compromised brazenly by the shameless and the powerful.

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