Government officials who are found guilty of red-tagging individuals and groups should be perpetually disqualified from holding public office because this is considered a reprehensible act.
(Senate of the Philippines / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon pointed out this is the reason why he included such provision in Senate Bill No. 2121 or “An Act Defining and Penalizing Red-Tagging,” which he filed to address the impunity and how state forces currently accuse activists, journalists, academics, lawyers, judges, labor leaders and even celebrities of being members or supporters of communist groups.
The bill seeks to criminalize red-tagging and make the act punishable by 10 years of imprisonment.
The measure is seen as a means to push back against recent efforts and pronouncements of police and military personnel accusing certain people of being members or supporters of communist groups with little or no proof at all.
Primarily, Drilon, who is also a lawyer, said permanent disqualification from holding public office is usually an accessory penalty as outlined in the Revised Penal Code.
“Number two, the policy reason behind the perpetual disqualification is that it means that a public official found guilty of red-tagging—if this becomes a law—is not worthy to be a public official,” Drilon said in a televised interview on ANC.
The former justice secretary said he filed the bill to generate a debate among lawmakers as state forces involved are prone to making accusations against lawyers, members of the media, labor leaders and activists of being communists without presenting any strong evidence.
State agents, whether law enforcement agents or military personnel, he said, should be filing cases against those who openly call for violence and overthrow the government, not red-tag.
“They should file cases against them, because that is (considered) sedition. But do not do what you are doing today,” he said.
Drilon reiterated further that the number of people being killed by state forces sends a chilling effect “on our freedom and on our people.”
“What we see today is the chilling effect of being red-tagged because of the unfortunate killings that could happen when one is red-tagged,” he pointed out.
Drilon cited for instance, the case of human rights lawyer Angelo Karlo “AK” Guillen who was stabbed with a screwdriver on his head in Iloilo City.
The lawmaker also noted that the 33-year old lawyer has been red-tagged for representing 16 members of the indigenous Tumandok who were arrested in Capiz and Iloilo provinces in December 2020 for illegal possession of firearms and explosives and for alleged links to communist rebels.
“This has a chilling effect on our freedom and on our people. This is the context that prompted us to file this bill. Talking about lawyers, for the past five years, 61 lawyers have been killed,” Drilon stressed. “In a number of instances, even judges are red-tagged,” he further lamented.