KARAPATAN condemned the incidents of harassment perpetrated by elements of the 5th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army (IDPA) against a La Union-based youth organization that advocates education for all.
The Ilocos Human Rights Alliance (IHRA) has reported that three members of youth group Project Namnama (PN)—Pearl and Precious Baybayan and Haggeo Perez—received last March several unwanted visits from soldiers of the 5th IDPA, who interrogated the victims and tried to pressure them into disclosing the names and addresses of PN officers and members.
“Such harassment in not new,” said KARAPATAN secretary general Cristina Palabay, who cited an incident in 2023 when a community library established by Project Namnama in Sitio Nagpanaoan, Barangay Alaska, Aringay, La Union, with a permit from the Municipal Social Welfare Development Office and the Barangay Local Government Unit, was forced to close down after the police harassed and red-tagged the barangay official who allowed the establishment of the community library. The police alleged that the library carried “communist and anti-government readings.”
“In another instance,” said Palabay, “police disrupted a Pproject Namnama activity by abruptly pulling out parents and hauling them off to attend a supposed meeting on the Anti-Rape Law. The meeting, however, turned out to be a seminar that red-tagged progressive organizations.”
Palabay decried the fact that the 5th IDPA’s harassment of the youth activists persisted even after the victims filed a complaint with the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Regional Office. The 5th IDPA claimed that La Union Gov. Raphaella David had authorized the 50th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army, which is under the 5th ID’s command, to conduct a Community Support Program (CSP) in the province. “The CSP is the military’s monicker for psywar operations, under which the red-tagging, harassment and forced surrender of progressive organizations falsely alleged to have links with the armed rebellion is undertaken,” said Palabay.
“These red-tagging and harassment incidents are not harmless,” warned Palabay. “As the IHRA has noted, public vilification through red-tagging creates a political predicate for more severe human rights violations, including the filing of fabricated charges; procurement and execution of search warrants based on fabricated statements from false or coached witnesses; and, in the most extreme cases, extrajudicial killings.”
“We urge the Commission on Human Rights to take action,” said Palabay. “Red-tagging is dangerous and must be stopped,” she concluded.