Ilonggo Senator Franklin Drilon has filed a bill seeking to criminalize red-tagging in the Philippines.
Senate Bill 2121 or the proposed “Act Defining and Penalizing Red-Tagging” aims to “fix the legal gaps, address impunity and institutionalize a system of accountability.”
“The passage of this bill will reverse the ‘increasingly institutionalization and normalization of human rights violations’ and put a stop on the attacks against the members of the legal profession,” Drilon said in the bill’s explanatory note.
“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
Under the proposed measure, red-tagging is punishable by imprisonment of up to 10 years.
Those found guilty will also “suffer the accessory penalty of perpetual absolute disqualification to hold public office.”
Drilon’s bill defines 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 a counter-insurgency or anti-terrorism strategy or program, by any state actor, such as law enforcement agent, paramilitary, or military personnel.”
The former Department of Justice (DOJ) secretary said libel, or grave threats, is not appropriate where a state agent vilifies a person as an enemy of the state thereby impinging on the rights of that individual.
“It has resulted in serious human rights violations such as harassments, arbitrary arrests, detentions, and enforced disappearances.” he said.
According to Drilon, “in some instances, being red-tagged is a prelude to death,” IMT
