The Manila Critics Circle (MCC) and Academics Unite for Democracy and Human Rights (AUDHR) on Wednesday, March 23, decried the red-tagging and vandalism of two bookstores, Popular Bookstores and Solidaridad Bookshop.

On Tuesday, March 22, owner and patrons of independent bookstore Popular Bookstore in Tomas Morato, Quezon City cried foul after its entrance and signage were defaced with anti-communist graffiti.

Similarly, another independent bookstore Solidaridad Bookshop in Padre Faura, Manila was also vandalized with graffiti that faintly read: NPA (New People's Army).

"Such malicious vandalism is an attack on the right to free speech, the right to think for oneself, and the right to choose what they wish to read," MCC said in a statement.

"Such graffiti threatens the owners, employees, and customers of these bookstores," it further read.

MCC urged authorities to "act immediately on these threatening acts of red-tagging," adding that people "should feel safe going to the bookstore" and "these businesses should not be threatened nor should the people they employ."

In a similar statement, AUHDR said it was not surprising that Popular Bookstore and Solidaridad Bookshop were targeted by "mindless" red-tagging attacks.

"Many generations of readers, students, and intellectuals have walked through their doors to discover rare books on the Philippines or challenging treatises which they would not find elsewhere. A malicious idiot could easily dig up one or two 'leftist' works buried in their shelves and triumphantly label the bookstores themselves as subversive," AUHDR said.

"Bookstore shelves are snapshots of how a nation thinks at every moment of its history. Bookstore with shelves empty of books or filled only with books containing a single idea or no ideas whatsoever reflect a nation's deep intellectual property," it added.

Civil libertarian and businessman Joaquin Po founded the Popular Bookstore in 1945, meanwhile, Solidaridad Bookshop was owned by late National Artists for Literature F. Sionil Jose.