Sen. Drilon seeks to criminalize red-tagging, guilty to serve 10 years

Pasay City, Metro Manila – Senator Franklin Drilon has filed Senate Bill No. 2121, which seeks to criminalize red-tagging on Wednesday, March 24.

The bill provides that any person found guilty of red-tagging will spend 10 years in prison and will be perpetually disqualified to hold public office.

“The passage of this bill will reverse the ‘increasingly institutionalization and normalization of human rights violations’ and put a stop on the attacks against members of the legal profession,” Drilon said.

“The measure will likewise serve as a reminder to the government of its primary duty under the Constitution ‘to serve and protect the people’,” he added.

Additionally, if it is passed into law, it would define the crime of red-tagging as, “the act of labeling, vilifying, branding, naming, accusing, harassing, persecuting, stereotyping, or caricaturing individuals, groups, or organizations as state enemies, left-leaning, subversives, communists, or terrorists as part of counter-insurgency or anti-terrorism strategy or program, by any state actor, such as a law enforcement agent, paramilitary, or military personnel.”

‘No sufficient and available legal remedies for red-tagging victims’

The senator, in the bill, argued that victims of red-tagging are forced to file cases such as libel and grave threats against their perpetrators in the absence of legal remedies for the victims.

“Contrary to popular assertions, there are no sufficient and available legal remedies for victims of red-tagging. Victims are left without proper recourse against their perpetrators and are forced to file seemingly-appropriate-but-not-quite cases, like libel and grave threats,” he stated.

With this, the newly passed bill seeks to “fix the legal gaps, address impunity and institutionalize a system of accountability by criminalizing red-tagging and providing for penalties as deterrence thereto.”

“In Some instances, being red-tagged is a prelude to death,”

Meanwhile, Drilon in said bill mentioned that the life, liberty and security of those vilified individuals are threatened.

“It has resulted to serious human rights violations such as harassments, arbitrary arrests, detentions, and enforced disappearances. In some instances, being red-tagged is a prelude to death,” he said.

He cited the deaths of individuals who were allegedly suspected as member of the CPP-NPA-NDF. These include Zara Alvarez who was shot on August 17, 2020; Dr. Mary Rose Sancelan who was also shot on December 15, 2020; human rights lawyer Benjamin Ramon who was killed on November 6, 2018; and Atty. Angelo Karlo Guillen who was attacked but survived the assassination.

The senator also mentioned Mandaluyong City Judge Quisumbing-Ignacio who ordered the release of journalist and labor right activist Lady Ann Salem but then soon after, she was linked to the communist groups.

OTHER NEWS

LGU-Lubuagan barangays to get cash incentives from Malacañang

ADVERTISEMENT

Follow Guru Press Cordillera on Facebook for more News and Information