US report: Red-tagging, journalist...

Government officials and their allies often used redtagging to label human rights advocates, unions, religious groups, academics and media organizations as fronts for or clandestine members of insurgent and other opposition groups.

In August, the Department of Justice charged 16 members of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines with financing communist insurgent groups.

“The Marcos administration’s position on red-tagging was unclear,” the report noted.

It also cited former National Security Advisor Clarita Carlos for condemning the practice in a June statement, saying, “Let’s stop redtagging because it is not productive.”

Justice Secretary Crispin Remulla, however, dismissed the criticisms as he told the United Nations Universal Periodic Review of human rights in November that red-tagging is “used when a person belonging to a civil society organization is criticized for the work they’re doing as being related to the persons who commit criminal acts in our country.”

The State Department also noted civil society groups’ showing concern over the implementation of the AntiTerrorism Act of 2020, which they said contributed to redtagging and was prone to abuse.

In April, responding to petitions filed by NGOs and opposition lawmakers, the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the law’s definition of terrorism, deeming it “overbroad and violative of freedom of expression.”

Opponents argued the legislation could be used to tag some common speech or innocuous political activities as incitement to terrorism.

Some leaders of communist and leftist organizations, rural NGOs and human rights defenders complained of routine surveillance and harassment.

“Although the government generally respected restrictions on search and seizure within private homes, searches without warrants continued. Judges generally declared illegally obtained evidence to be inadmissible,” the report pointed.

Impunity remains

The government investigated some reported human rights abuses, including abuses by its forces and paramilitary forces, “but concerns about police impunity remained, given reports of continued extrajudicial killings by police.”

“Officials frequently engaged in corrupt practices with impunity,” the report said.

Major human rights issues in the Philippines included credible reports of unlawful or arbitrary killings, including extrajudicial killings; forced disappearance; torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment by and on behalf of the government and other physical abuses by non-state actors; serious problems with the independence of the judiciary and high-level and widespread government corruption, among others.

The State Department report also highlighted the continued harassment of and physical attacks on journalists, usually by government officials and powerful individuals.

The report noted that while the Constitution provides for freedom of expression, including for members of the press, “threats and actions by government, allied groups and powerful individuals against journalists, media organizations, government critics and others continued.”

“Journalists continued to face harassment and threats of violence, including from individual politicians, government authorities and powerful private persons critical of their reporting. These abuses intensified during the election season,” the report pointed out.

The report noted that media generally remains free, active and able to voice criticism of the government, despite the chilling effect caused by the killings of journalists and political pressure on specific major media organizations.

On Oct. 3, radio broadcaster Percival “Percy Lapid” Mabasa was killed in an ambush on his way to work. Mabasa was a prominent radio host who reported on government corruption and had challenged the Marcos administration and the former Duterte administration on human rights and the protection of fundamental freedoms. He was the second journalist killed since President Marcos took office in June. Another radio broadcaster, Renato “Rey” Blanco, was killed in September.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) created a special task force to investigate Mabasa’s murder, admitting it was “highly probable” he