By FRANCK DICK ROSETE
Bulatlat.com
CAGAYAN DE ORO – A veteran Cagayan de Oro-based journalist who had been a victim of red-tagging said that the Philippine government should have laws that criminalize this practice to protect journalists, human rights defenders and activists.
Leonardo Vicente “Cong” Corrales, editor-in-chief of Gold Star Daily News, issued this statement when he testified in a two-day public inquiry by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) held in this city last week, recalling his experiences in red-tagging, the practice of labeling people and organizations as communists or terrorists.
Corrales urged the government to implement protective mechanisms for journalists and human rights workers to perform their jobs away from fear.
“These accusations often come from powerful groups who face little to no consequences for their actions,” he said in his statement. “A system of accountability would serve as a deterrent to those who use red-tagging as a tool of intimidation.”
According to a Mindanews report, CHR is doing a series of inquiries on red-tagging following the Supreme Court ruling in July this year which declared that “red-tagging, vilification, labeling, and guilt by association threaten a person’s right to life, liberty, or security.”
In July 2019, Corrales and other progressive organizations, including the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), were tagged as supporters of terrorism on a poster plastered on the fence of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) church in Barangay Agusan, this city.
In addition, a flyer claimed that there was P1-million bounty on Corrales’ death and accused him as someone who is facing a rape with murder case. This incident happened in 2019.
Read: UN special rapporteurs stress chilling effect of red tagging
Corrales was also one of the red-tagged journalists seen in flyers in 2020 which were sent by an anonymous group in front of ABS-CBN Cagayan de Oro an hour after several media workers showed support against the shutdown of the giant network.
The veteran journalist was also red-tagged on the social media platform Facebook. He requested the Meta which runs Facebook to provide information behind accounts that red-tagged him but it was denied. This prompted him to file a complaint before the National Privacy Commission (NPC) in 2023 due to Meta’s alleged failure to observe his right to access information.
“The allegations were baseless, but the implications were severe. Being publicly associated with terrorism puts my life at immediate risk,” he said.
Living with fear, but journalism continues
Corrales said that these accusations forced him to live with fear, where it reached to the point that his family, friends, and colleagues were worried about his safety due to the potential outcome of red-tagging.
“Imagine being a journalist dedicated to your craft and the truth, and having to look over my shoulder every day, unsure if the next step I take will put me or my family in harm’s way,” he said.
Read: Red-tagging study shows impacts on journalists, stresses need for pushing back
On the other hand, he said that this practice of labeling, which aims to silence a critical press, would affect the general public, preventing them from accessing essential information as critical issues would go underreported.
Hence, he did not stop from writing stories that matter and advocating for the security of journalists, which is evident from his current media outfit and the training and workshops conducted by the media group Cagayan de Oro Press Club, where he is a member.
Hopes to eradicate red-tagging
Human rights group Karapatan welcomed the CHR probe in Mindanao, hoping that the investigation, through the testimonies of the victims, helps the commission uncover red-tagging as a “precursor of more grievous human rights violations.”
The group also hoped that the inquiry would lead CHR in making concrete steps to eradicate it, which include the “abolition of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict and the confidential and intelligence funds, which had been criticized as source[s] of funds for implementation of these notorious human rights violations,” Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said in a statement.
Read: DOJ lied to UN expert on red-tagging—Karapatan, NUJP
Ten red-tagging and harassment victims from the Southern Mindanao region also testified, recounting their experiences. These include detained former Karapatan Southern Mindanao secretary general Jay Apiag and Rosiele Lariosa, wife of missing trade union organizer William Lariosa.
Palabay said that red-tagging resulted in the unjust detention on trumped-up charges for Apiag and enforced disappearance for Lariosa. “The other affiants reported being constantly fearful for their safety after experiencing a series of red-tagging incidents.”
In a reply sent to Bulatlat, CHR Northern Mindanao assured that the commission will release a comprehensive report. (JJE, DAA)
