Rights group bats for abolition of NTF-ELCAC, repeal of terror law at CHR probe

KARAPATAN welcomed the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) continuing probe on red-tagging, as it strongly recommended the abolition of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, the repeal of repressive laws such as the Anti-Terrorism Act, and the enactment of measures recognizing and protecting human rights defenders.

The inquiry, which began in the middle of 2024, has already covered the Visayas and Mindanao. On January 14 to 15, 2025, the CHR will be hearing testimonies from victims of red-tagging from Luzon.

Together with other human rights defenders, KARAPATAN secretary general Cristina Palabay was invited to give her testimony. In the inquiry, Palabay cited multiple instances from 2018 to 2023 where she and/or Karapatan and its affiliates were red- and terror-tagged by former Pres. Rodrigo Duterte, officials of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), military units, paramilitary forces and elements in their employ.

In several of these instances, the red- and terror-taggers incited violence against Palabay and her organization. In a much-publicized quote on May 17, 2017, Duterte threatened to decapitate Palabay and Karapatan, which it called a “fake human rights group.” This was after KARAPATAN wrote the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Internally Displaced Persons about the worsening plight of internal refugees in Mindanao due to intensifying bombings and other military operations under Duterte’s counter-insurgency operational plans (oplan) Bayanihan and Kapayapaan.

“Red-tagging involves hurling false accusations, often against human rights defenders, in order to vilify them or their organization, beliefs and activities, and eventually justify the commission of graver human rights violations against them and their group or community,” said Palabay. “It is a vicious and insidious way of suppressing dissent and sweeping human rights violations under the rug.”

“Considering that the Supreme Court has already ruled that red-tagging threatens a person’s life, liberty and security,” added Palabay, “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.” #