MANILA, Philippines – State agents who report facilitating the “surrender” of hundreds of alleged communists rack up those numbers — and take pictures — by tricking urban poor communities into receiving aid in exchange for signing a surrender form, victims of red-tagging in Metro Manila told the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), whose investigation into red-tagging is in full swing this week.
This alleged modus is different from the fake surrenders pattern earlier attributed to the state, which involves abducting activists, and freeing them only if they sign an affidavit renouncing their membership to communist groups and “surrendering” as civilians.
The testimonies of the victims about the alleged deception of urban poor communities are part of a nationwide public inquiry by the CHR.
The commission is about to finish its three-part hearing to listen to victims, after which it will hold another hearing to listen to government agencies often accused of perpetrating red-tagging. Red-tagging, as recently defined by the Supreme Court (SC), is an act of associating someone “with communists or terrorists [and] makes the red-tagged person a target of vigilantes, paramilitary groups, or even state agents.”
“Some of our members told us that they were offered aid, but they were made to sign a waiver,” a health worker, speaking to Rappler on the condition of anonymity, said in Filipino. The waiver was vague and had no startling words that would make one think she was signing a form of surrender, she and other red-tagging victims said.
Those who showed up to get the aid, and signed the waiver, were later photographed under tarpaulins that either read “surrenderees,” or “oath of allegiance.” The aid was either P2,000 in cash, or grocery items, said the victims.
“I don’t even understand what oath of allegiance is,” the health worker told Rappler in Filipino.
A teacher cried on the witness stand of the CHR, telling the en banc in tears: “Hindi ko nga po alam ano ang red-tag (I don’t even know what red-tagging is)!” The teacher was also offered aid, but she said she did not take it.
CHR Chairperson Richard Palpal-latoc said the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), which red-tags openly and even on government broadcasts, has expressed willingness to attend the inquiry.
“The purpose [of the inquiry] really is to put a stop to red-tagging activities. Secondly, the objective is to come up with a measure to propose to Congress to address red-tagging,” Palpal-latoc told Rappler.
“The other purpose is to find out who — who is the victim, and who is the perpetrator,” the chairperson added in Filipino.
Who’s the perpetrator?
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has so far ignored recommendations from United Nations special rapporteurs to abolish the NTF-ELCAC, and said on one occasion that red-tagging is not perpetrated by state agents.
Victims who have testified before the CHR can identify by name and by army squad the perpetrator of the attacks against them. In the teacher’s case, it is because the agents immersed in their communities before red-tagging them.
The 59-year-old teacher said she has been teaching for three decades, and a community leader since 2017 when the community was forced to form a group to fight a demolition order. The teacher said she suspects the red-tagging was prompted when the group asked the Gabriela Women’s Party for help to set up dialogues with their congressman and the National Housing Authority.
After that, the state agents started asking her about Gabriela. “Parang, ‘Ang Gabriela hindi mo ba alam na ganito ‘yun, ganito ‘yan.’ Sabi ko wala namang ginagawang masama ang Gabriela,” the teacher said. (They asked us, “Don’t you know that Gabriela is like this and like that.” I told them Gabriela wasn’t doing anything wrong.)
The surveillance happened in August 2023, with the teacher being told that soldiers kept dropping by their house to ask about her. She suffered a stroke that same month.
“First time kong nagtayo ng mga samahang ganyan. As in, bahay-pagtuturo lang naman ako. Kaya rin, parang na-stress na ako. Na-stress talaga ako. Sobrang takot. Hanggang sa ito sa CHR, lumapit kami. Parang ayun medyo na-ano ako, pero hindi pa rin gano’n ka-kampante,” said the teacher.
(It was my first time to form a group like that. I’m just always at home and at school. So I was really stressed, and really afraid. We reported it to the CHR, and that comforted me a little, but I still don’t feel secure.)
Among the victims who testified is Cristina Palabay, the secretary-general of human rights group Karapatan, who told the CHR during the hearing that the red-tagging against her and her colleagues “incited violence.”
The SC decision defined red-tagging as a threat to liberty, security, and life. A subsequent lower court decision that awarded civil damages to journalist Atom Araullo said red-tagging threatens peace of mind.
“The series of inquiries being conducted by the CHR is an important step in coming up with a clear picture of how prevalent red-tagging is across the country and its detrimental effects on the conduct of human rights work, and what accountability mechanisms can be adopted to put a stop to it,” said Palabay.
– Rappler.com