Red-tagging is emerging as the top campaign violation in the 2025 midterm elections, an international human rights group reported.
The International Observer Mission of the International Coalition on Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) said harassment, intimidation and vilification by labelling political parties and candidates as members, supporters or affiliates of armed communist insurgents characterize the ongoing campaign period that started last February 11.
“Overwhelmingly, it (red-tagging) comprises 78.7 percent of the violations monitored by election watchdog and 2025 IOM partner Vote Report PH as of April 30,” ICHRP revealed.
The group reported it is the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) that spearheads the red-tagging of progressive candidates, especially the Makabayan Coalition of progressive partylists and candidates.
In various areas around the country and abroad, posters have been put up alleging Makabayan parties and candidates as fronts of underground revolutionary organizations.
Their posters have also been defaced or removed by persons they said are connected with the NTF-ELCAC and the military.
Makabayan is composed of parties Bayan Muna, ACT Teachers, Gabriela Womens, and Kabataan that are individually running in the partylist elections.
The coalition is also fielding 11 aspirants for the Senate race, one of the most complete slates in this year’s elections.
Their sorties have also been blocked by government officials and the military, such as in Pola, Oriental Mindoro last April.
On February 19, 2025, the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) issued Resolution No. 11116 enjoining fair campaigning and banning discriminatory acts such as red-tagging.
The resolution, subsequently praised by the Commission on Human Rights, was the basis of red-tagging complaints by Gabriela and ACT Teachers against the NTF-ELCAC and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Commission on Elections chairperson George Erwin Garcia said the poll body shall investigate the complaints, but have yet to issue its findings six weeks since the complaints were filed.
The ICHRP said it is disappointed in Pres. Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s refusal to abolish the NTF-ELCAC, as announced by National Security Council assistant director general Jonathan Malaya last March.
“Despite the Supreme Court ruling (declaring that red-tagging are dangerous to the lives and liberty of victims), the Marcos Jr. administration has failed to take measures that would end red-tagging, including abolishing the (NTF-ELCAC),” ICHRP said in its report.
The multi-faceted character of red-tagging has earned it the distinction of being an electoral violation, a human rights violation, and an international humanitarian law (IHL) violation all at the same time, the group explained.
ICHRP said that red-tagging aims to sway people from casting their vote for any candidates through fear, intimidation, and disinformation campaigns is the opposite of a fair, free, clean and honest election process.
“Red-tagging silences those discussions by trying to discredit, through misinformation and harassment, solutions promulgated by candidates that run counter to business as usual and dynastic politics,” ICHRP said.
“These discussions give substance to the right to vote by giving voters the chance to engage with and affirm candidates that have the political will to respond to the pressing problems faced by the people,” it added.
Kontra Daya welcomed the IOM’s findings it said validate the anti-fraud group’s previous statements as well as those of various human rights defenders.
“Red-tagging is indeed a major election issue,” Kontra Daya convenor Dr. Danilo Arao told Kodao.
“Much as we welcome the hundreds of show-cause orders issued by Comelec pertaining to vote-buying, abuse of state resources and gender discrimination, Comelec should also address various cases of red-tagging against certain candidates, party-list groups and their supporters,” Arao said.
Makabayan Coalition campaign manager and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan president Renato Reyes Jr.added that the scale of red-tagging in this years elections now is worse than in 2022.
“The government is spending for red-tagging paraphernalia being used nationwide. The use of AI-generated videos showing our candidates with armed groups is another insidious new feature,” Reyes also revealed.
Reyes said they expect the attacks to intensify on election day as Comelec has not acted decisively on their complaints.
“Red-tagging, intimidation and harassment of our candidates undermines the electoral process, and reaffirms our view that the electoral exercises is truly loaded and skewed against the marginalized sectors,” Reyes concluded. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
