Karapatan condemns red-tagging anew

The release by the National Task Force to End Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) of a list of so-called legal fronts of the CPP-NPA is highly execrable as it is a form of harassment and intimidation.

Labeling or red-tagging exposes members of legitimate people’s organizations to grave danger and has been a prelude to extra-judicial killings that prevails in the country.

The release of such a list came after threats from Pres. Duterte to kill the NPAs and for its “legal fronts” to go and hide. The NTF-ELCAC, if it is true to its name, should study history and learn that systematic violence by the government against its citizens has failed in ending the armed conflict since the regime of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Simply put, the solution still lies in ending poverty and providing social justice.

In paper, isn’t this what the “whole-of-nation” approach being implemented by the NTF aims to achieve? Unfortunately, the implementation, which emphasizes military solutions proven to be ineffective, dooms the program to failure.

In these times of crisis when the nation faces a severe health emergency brought about by Covid 19, the government should give primacy to rallying the people around an effective plan to contain the virus and provide for the populace caught in the lockdown.

The legitimate people’s organizations on the NTF’s list have by themselves made efforts to help the poor who are most adversely affected by this emergency and are going hungry.

 

Reference: REYLAN VERGARA

Secretary General, Panay Alliance Karapatan

panaykarapatan@yahoo.com

0920 396 3833