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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider House leader asks CHR, NBI to probe red-tagging of community pantries

House leader asks CHR, NBI to probe red-tagging of community pantries

Published Apr 27, 2021 10:48 am

Another leader of the House of Representatives has joined the calls against the red-tagging and reported profiling of organizers of community pantries.

House deputy speaker and Cagayan de Oro City Representative Rufus Rodriguez said Tuesday, April 27, that he filed a resolution asking the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to look into the red-tagging and profiling activities that forced the closure of community pantries.

People line up at the community pantry set up by 26-year-old Ana Patricia Non in Maginhawa Street, Quezon City. Non's initiative has inspired over 300 makeshift pantries that have sprouted in various areas of the Philippines. (MANILA BULLETIN/Mark Balmores)

“Unfortunately, many community pantries were forced to close because their owners/organizers became afraid of being red-tagged after being approached by police and asked for their personal information,” he said in Resolution No. 1725.

Rodriguez cited the experience of his constituents in Cagayan de Oro, when one community pantry in Barangay Kauswagan was closed after its organizer was "red-tagged and systematically harassed with leaflets being circulated and posted everywhere".

He said a restaurateur had also complained of being approached and "profiled" by individuals who introduced themselves as police officers.

Quezon City resident Ana Patricia Non, initiator of the Maginhawa Community Pantry that spawned similar donation-driven efforts throughout the country, was forced to stop her program last Tuesday, April 20, after being linked by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) to communist rebels.

Police officers were also reported to have approached other community pantries and asked organizers for their personal information, including their affiliation and Facebook accounts.

"There is a need to look into the red-tagging activities and put a stop to it if it results in good ideas like community pantries being forced to closed down," Rodriguez appealed, saying the initiative, which aimed to provide food items to people severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, “exemplifies the bayanihan spirit of Filipinos."

The CHR earlier raised concern over the "shameful and politicking actions" done by government officials and law enforcement authorities against community pantry volunteers.

"We remind the government, particularly, local law enforcement officers, that collecting data including the affiliation of community pantry organizers, is an encroachment upon the right to privacy of citizens and represents yet again an overreach and abuse of police power," CHR spokesperon Jacqueline de Guia said in a statement.

Several lawmakers in the House of Representatives and the Senate have called for an audit of the billions of funds allocated to the NTF-ELCAC, with which the red-labelling activities have been associated.

Related Tags

CHR NTF-ELCAC Community Pantry Rufus Rodriguez Red-tagging
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