KARAPATAN expressed alarm over the growing incidents of red-tagging, villification and outright threats against progressive candidates, their campaigners and supporters coming on the heels of the issuance by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) of Resolution No. 1116 prohibiting acts associated with red-tagging. The spurt in red-tagging incidents also comes after a recent nationwide inquiry by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on this issue.
KARAPATAN slammed the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and its minions for being at the forefront of red-tagging forays against progressive candidates and activists.
“Shady characters like retired Lt. Gen. Rhodel Sermonia, first nominee of United Frontliners Partylist; paid military agents Ariane Jane Ramos and Alma Gabin who have provided perjured testimonies in court to justify the unjust arrest and detention on trumped-up charges of activists like Frenchie Mae Cumpio; and Epanaw Sambayanan Party third nominee Jeffrey Celiz who is reportedly in Canada to serve as an attack dog against individuals who have sought refuge there from persecution in the Philippines and Filipino-Canadians critical of the Philippine government’s human rights record and politics—these red-taggers must be exposed for the opportunists that they are,” said KARAPATAN secretary general Cristina Palabay.
“The sheer number of documented cases is appalling,” said Palabay, “prompting us to demand from the Comelec that it seriously enforce Resolution 1116.”
She cited the following incidents:
- On February 25, 2025, a crudely made poster was seen along Kamias cor. Kalayaan Avenue in Quezon City branding Bayan Muna “Number 1 rekruter ng CPP-NPA;”
- Bayan Muna posters along E. Rodriguez Avenue in Cubao, Quezon City have been pasted over with posters terror-tagging Gabriela Women’s Party, Bayan Muna, ACT Teachers Partylist and Kabataan Partylist and urging the electorate not to vote for them;
- On February 25, 2025, posters made of woven plastic sheets with painted texts red-tagging and maligning Kabataan, Gabriela, Bayan Muna, ACT-Teachers and Health Workers partylists were also posted in different places in Iloilo City. The texts branded these organizations as partylist groups of the CPP-NPA-NDF. The sheets bore the signatory “Pro-Peace,” an unheard of group;
- On February 26, 2025,at Philcoa, Quezon City, Bayan Muna posters were pasted over to read “Bayad Muna;”
- On February 23, 2025, sheets spray-painted with “Neri Colmenares NPA rekruter Terorista” and “Wag Iboto Teroristang Bayan Muna” were posted along Ermin Garcia Street in Cubao, Quezon City;
- Fake posters congratulating Gabriela-Bikolana chair Jenelyn Nagrampa, Samakana/Kadamay Camarines Sur organizer Chona Azucena and Bayan-Camarines Sur volunteer Consuela Cerujano for their alleged contributions to the armed struggle were posted along Abella cor. Felix Plazo Streets in Barangay Abella, Naga City on March 2, 2025. Another fake poster was seen in Pili, Camarines Sur, also congratulating Bicolana Gabriela regional coordinator Nica Ombao for allegedly recruiting the youth for armed struggle;
- On February 24, 2025, flyers red-tagging Makabayan senatorial candidates Teddy Casiño and Jerome Adonis were dumped at the gates of Makabayan-Camarines Sur office;
- Posters saying “Bayad Muna” were pasted on Bayan Muna posters in Dagupan Centro, Tabuk, Kalinga on February 24, 2025;
- At around 10 a.m. of February 26, 2025, men who claimed to be from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of the Philippine National Police (PNP-CIDG) went to Barangay Capehan, Tarlac City looking for the residence of Thomas Franco, assistant vice president for Luzon of Kabataan Partylist. The men claimed that Franco was a leading recruiter of youth for the NPA;
- Earlier, on February 11, 2025, several tarpaulins were seen hanging in key areas in major urban centers in Central Luzon, painting progressive partylist groups and the 11 Makabayan senatorial candidates as “fake nationalists,” members of the “Kamatayan Bloc,” and “terrorists” and “recruiters of terrorists.;
- On February 26, 2025, Paul Lachica, a third-year Political Science major at the University of the Philippines in Tacloban and currently the national chairperson of Kasama sa UP and the regional coordinator of the National Union of Students in the Philippines-Eastern Visayas, received reports from a fellow student that the latter’s uncle, who is a policeman, requested her to take pictures of speakers at a rally at UP Tacloban commemorating the 39th anniversary of the EDSA People Power Uprising. The policeman reportedly tagged Lachica as a leading recruiter of students at UP Tacloban to join the NPA.
Meanwhile, some paid military and NTF-ELCAC agents, including Ariane Jane Ramos and Alma Gabin, have written to the Comelec objecting to Resolution 1116 for allegedly being violative of their right to freedom of expression. A Supreme Court ruling that red-tagging is a threat to life, liberty and security, however, means that red-tagging does not constitute protected speech, and therefore does not deserve a platform. In the context of elections, red-tagging has been described as “disinformation enabling fraud and violence.”
“Red-tagging is a malicious practice that normalizes lies and threats of violence against progressive candidates and their supporters, terrorizing the people from getting to know the candidates’ platforms and advocacies and making informed choices on election day,” stressed Palabay. “Red-tagging also sets the basis for poll violence, threats, harassment and intimidation, distorting the true will of the electorate. It must be stopped.”