Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas
The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and Tanggol Magsasaka welcome the upcoming visit of UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Opinion Irene Khan as she visits the country from January 23 to February 2 to examine, in the spirit of cooperation and dialogue, the situation of the rights to freedom of opinion and expression in the country.
KMP and Tanggol Magsasaka will submit inputs and information to Ms. Khan detailing specific and emblematic state-sponsored violations of freedom of expression and opinion affecting farmers and rural-based sectors under the current and previous administrations of Marcos and Duterte.
According to KMP Chairperson Danilo Ramos, a victim of the state-sponsored red-tagging himself, said the persistent red-tagging against farmers is an act of political persecution perpetrated by the government. Red-tagging suppresses the freedom of expression, liberty, association, peaceful assembly, and grievance. It is an attack on the Bill of Rights and persecution under the Republic Act 9851 or the Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes Against Humanity.
“Red-tagging’s primary goal is to isolate the leader farmers and peasant advocates away from their constituents. Often, the effects of red-tagging are execution or extrajudicial killing and fabricated criminal charges,” Ramos added.
According to Tanggol Magsasaka, peasants have been subjected to all kinds of state-sponsored attacks and repression in the forms of red-tagging, forced surrender, threats, harassment, and intimidation. These were fueled by active operations of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and local villages funded by the Barangay Development Program. The common targets of red-tagging are the leaders, organizers, and members of the KMP and Anakpawis Partylist in Cagayan Valley, Ilocos, Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog, Bicol, Panay, Negros, and Mindanao regions, among others.
In the past months under the Marcos Jr administration, peasant leader Danilo Ramos and peasant advocate Maggie Seva have been subjected to constant surveillance and harassment by state forces while peasant leader Isabelo Adviento remained incarcerated since his arrest under the Duterte regime in April 2022.
“We join human rights defenders and advocates in the #FightToExpress campaign to expose that the freedoms of expression and opinion in the Philippines are constantly undermined and violated,” Ramos concluded. ###
