‘RED-TAGGING’ | Journalists’ group slams NTF-ELCAC for red-tagging of media organizations

March 28, 2022 , 05:57 PM

By Clarist Zablan

(March 28, 2022) – A journalists’ group on Monday criticized a spokeswoman of President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-insurgency task force who “red-tagged” media organizations, accusing them of links to Maoist-led rebels.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) has tried to linked media agencies with the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, New People’s Army, describing it as “absurd” as well as “dangerous” because it threatened to stifle the freedom of the press as enshrined under the 1987 Constitution.

“The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict’s recent comments accusing newsrooms of being part of a communist network seem like a bad parody of the Whole of Nation approach: Red-tagging anyone and everyone in the country for the flimsiest of reasons,” NUJP said in a statement.

Last week, NTF-ELCAC’s spokeswoman Lorraine Badoy accused GMA-7, ABS-CBN, Inquirer, Philstar, and CNN as “part of the network” of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) after their reporters asked for her comments on reports of administrative complaints against her.

Badoy also claimed the “mainstream media” had been failing to cover the government’s dismantling of “entire guerilla fronts.” NUJP disputed this as false.

“Mainstream media has police and military beat reporters who write about the government’s anti-insurgency operations and it isn’t true that there is no news about these,” the group said.

NUJP also stressed that anti-insurgency operations are just one part of the government’s strategy to end the Maoist-led rebellion, and another part of their strategy, particularly their accusations of communist links against activists, journalists, rights workers, nuns, and even government officials is also a matter of public interest that must be reported by media.

“Although it is an absurd accusation, the NTF-ELCAC’s claim is no less dangerous given how similar allegations were used to justify the takeover and silencing of the press in 1972,” NUJP said, referring to the year of imposition of martial law under the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

The three cases against Badoy were filed by 26 activists and concerned citizens before the Ombudsman related to her accusations against Vice President Leonor Robredo, who is running president, of allegedly forming an alliance with the CPP, pointing at the endorsement she received from left-wing party-list coalition Makabayan.

This claim against Makabayan, which has been a frequent target of the government’s red-tagging, has been fact-checked by #FactsFirstPH partners Baguio Chronicle and Altermidya.

Rights groups have raised concerns that these red-tagging accusations have preceded harassments, attacks and killings of civilian activists and human rights defenders.

(MM)

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