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Karapatan denounced the arrest of indigenous woman human rights defender Beatrice “Betty” Belen, a member of the advisory council of Gabriela’s chapter in Cordillera, yesterday, October 25, at 4 a.m., in her home at Uma, Lubuagan, Kalinga, after the series of false red-tagging statements issued by Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) against the women’s organization and its celebrity supporters. 

Human rights group Karapatan today said that the acts of Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. as an “incorrigible red-tagger” of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) “such as inciting violence and harm on artists, activists, and communities are big reasons why the task force’s PhP16.44 billion budget is a waste of public funds.”

Karapatan today cautioned the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology on “taking any form of reprisal against political prisoner Reina Mae Nasino, after her cruel and inhuman treatment in the hands of jail and police personnel during the wake and funeral of her daughter, Baby River.” 

Human rights alliance Karapatan said on Tuesday that “recent statements of public officials on the plight of political prisoner Reina Mae Nasino, days after the ‘overkill’ treatment of Nasino and her family during the funeral of baby River, laid bare the injustices she suffered, including her political persecution and unjust detention as a champion of the poor.” 

Even with the 37 petitions before the Supreme Court questioning the constitutionality of Republic Act No. 11479 or the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, its implementing rules and regulations (IRR) have been finalized and released to the public. 

The IRR merely confirmed the issues raised by the petitioners regarding the draconian law and how it can potentially be weaponized against political dissenters, activists, members of the opposition, journalists and the broader public.