MIGRANTE International
May 13, 2024
Migrante International lauds the recent decision of the Philippine Supreme Court against red tagging. The Supreme Court, in a landmark decision issued on May 9 held that red-tagging is a dangerous form of harassment that violates people’s rights.
The Supreme Court ruled in the case filed by Siegfred D. Deduro, a human rights activist and former Bayan Muna Representative, against AFP Maj. Gen Eric C. Vinoya et. al. Within the ruling, red-tagging, vilification, labelling, and guilt by association were found to threaten a person’s right to life, liberty, or security. Red-tagging may justify the issuance of a Writ of Amparo or a protection order from the court. Deduro, a victim of military harrassment and vilification by the NTF-ELCAC, had himself filed for a protection order.
The practice of red-tagging by the NTF-ELCAC and other state forces threaten the lives of Filipinos who are but critical of the government’s anti-poor and anti-people policies. The NTF-ELCAC is a danger to those who organize in defense of their democratic rights and demands. The Duterte and Marcos Jr. regimes have wielded the weapon of “terrorist tagging” to silence and suppress critical dissent. By labeling dissent as terrorism, they aim to justify attacks and rights violations against peasants, labor groups, faith communities, legal advocates, and human rights workers. Illegal detention, surveillance and harrasment, enforced disappearances, and killings of rights advocates have become far too common because of red-tagging and terrorist tagging.
The PH government’s repressive machinery have also spread its tentacles abroad. In collusion with military and police attaches and consulates overseas, state forces have also targeted Filipino migrants, OFWs, their organizations and their solidarity allies. From countries in the Asia-Pacific to Europe and North America, the Marcos Jr. regime is using said attaches and consulates to spread disinformation, lies, and fear among overseas Filipino communities. This is not only a gross violation of the rights of our compatriots, but an insult in the face of long-standing migrant demands for protections and support.
Migrante International demands the fascist Marcos Jr. regime to stop to all forms of “terrorist tagging” and all other forms of human rights violations against the Filipino people rising up against exploitation, oppression, and state repression. In the light of the Supreme Court decision, Migrante International calls on all Filipino migrants to support the growing calls on Congress to pass a law prohibiting red-tagging and all forms of vilification, labelling and guilt by association of human rights defenders, activists, and members of people’s organizations. We reiterate our call to dismantle the NTF-ELCAC, and scrap the Anti-Terror Law, among other laws used to demonize activists and the political opposition. What Filipino migrants needs from the Marcos Jr. government is not harassment, but the upholding of their civil and economic rights abroad and at home.
Stop red-tagging and terrorist tagging!
Abolish EO 70 and the NTF-ELCAC!
Junk Terror Law!
