CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The City Council here will form a technical working group (TWG) that will look into the reported cases of "red-tagging" involving journalists, church leaders, human rights defenders and other persons as prerequisite to craft an ordinance that will address this issue.
Councilor Romeo Calizo, chair of the Police, Fire and Public Safety Committee, said Thursday the basic job of the TWG is to discuss the proposals submitted by a group of people who were accused of being members or supporters of the New People’s Army (NPA) to address the incidents of red-tagging.
“We at the committee will choose the people who will comprise the TWG, preferably those who have expertise on legal and law enforcement concerns,” he said.
The TWG recommendations will then be submitted to the city’s legislature for deliberation and passage as an ordinance after it goes through a public hearing.
Calizo’s committee invited the petitioners, those who have been red-tagged, and police and military officials to discuss the issue.
The vetting of possible members of the TWG was scheduled to start on Sept. 6, Calizo said.
Last month, the petitioners, led by human rights lawyer Beverly Musni, who herself has been a victim of red-tagging, asked Mayor Oscar Moreno to declare Cagayan de Oro as a “red-tag-free” area and for the local lawmakers to create a human rights committee that will deal with cases of red-tagging.
Musni, a member of the Union of Peoples Lawyers in Mindanao, said she is grateful that the city government has taken the first step toward addressing the issue of red-tagging.
“If there is an ordinance penalizing red-tagging, it would greatly contribute to our human rights work, as it will protect the lives of civilians,” she said.
In their proposal, Musni said barangay officials and residents are also required to help authorities identify persons who put up posters and other materials containing statements attacking or accusing an individual or group of having links to the communist rebels.
Joseph Ben Deveza, National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) media safety officer for Northern Mindanao, said red-tagging is an attempt by some to degrade the credibility of the members of the press.
“It’s also scaring some of our colleagues, as they will now be afraid to write well-rounded news stories for fear of being red-tagged, the effect of which is readers will only get one-sided reports. It’s actually the community who’s losing every time we are red-tagged,” Deveza said.
Reynaldo Maraunay, dxCC station manager and Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas chapter president, said: “Red-tagging is tantamount of suppression of press freedom.”
Meanwhile, Misamis Oriental Governor Yevgeny Emano broke his silence on the recent incident of red-tagging.
"Just because a person or group advocates human rights, it does not mean that they support the communist movement," part of his statement reads, which was issued on Thursday.
Emano said red-tagging is an unfair practice which not only affects the "freedom it identifies, but may have serious implications on the security and movement of individuals and groups involved."
"It is wrong to maliciously label them as terrorists only because of their advocacies in various fields of human rights work," he said. (PNA)
