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The NTF-ELCAC should be abolished

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“Third, the NTF-ELCAC was established by the previous administration six years ago for a different context. It does not take into account ongoing prospects for peace negotiations. I therefore recommend that the Task Force be abolished.” —UN Special Rapporteur Irene Khan (February 2, 2024)

(Image by Jo Maois Mamangun)

[THIS IS THE SEVENTH AND LAST IN A SERIES OF NOTABLE STATEMENTS MADE BY UNITED NATIONS SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND OPINION IRENE KHAN ON HER INVESTIGATION IN THE PHILIPPINES]

Defining, preventing red-tagging

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“Second, I was pleased to hear that the National Human Rights Commission has embarked on consultations to help define the problem with a view to proposing legislation to define and prevent it. I encourage the Commission to prioritize the project. Needless to say, the law should be in line with international obligations, including the right to freedom of expression and reparations for victims.” —UN Special Rapporteur Irene Khan (February 2, 2024)

(Image by Jo Maois Mamangun)

[THIS IS THE SIXTH IN A SERIES OF NOTABLE STATEMENTS MADE BY UNITED NATIONS SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND OPINION IRENE KHAN ON HER INVESTIGATION IN THE PHILIPPINES]

Gov’t must denounce red-tagging

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“First, the government must make it clear to its officials and the public that it does not encourage, approve or condone ‘red tagging.’ I strongly recommend an Executive Order denouncing the practice and setting out measures that discourage, disincentivise and discipline those who violate the policy. In addition to reassuring civil society and the public, the clear denunciation of ‘red tagging’ will also benefit the upcoming peace talks by encouraging broader participation and more open debate of diverse views to settle differences and reach a consensus.” —UN Special Rapporteur Irene Khan (February 2, 2024)

(Image by Jo Maois Mamangun)

[THIS IS THE FIFTH IN A SERIES OF NOTABLE STATEMENTS MADE BY UNITED NATIONS SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND OPINION IRENE KHAN ON HER INVESTIGATION IN THE PHILIPPINES]

The dangers of red-tagging

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“The dangers are evident. The vilification has often been followed by threats, unlawful surveillance, attacks, or even unlawful killing. It intimidates and chills freedom of expression, and suppresses legitimate activism, journalism, debate and criticism which are part and parcel of freedom of expression. It isolates and antagonizes those who are unfairly attacked, puts them in a vulnerable position, may even drive them to exploitation by others, and undermines public trust in civil society and the media.” —UN Special Rapporteur Irene Khan (February 2, 2024)

(Image by Jo Maois Mamangun)

[THIS IS THE FOURTH IN A SERIES OF NOTABLE STATEMENTS MADE BY UNITED NATIONS SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND OPINION IRENE KHAN ON HER INVESTIGATION IN THE PHILIPPINES]

Clear evidence red tagging is practiced by PH govt

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“While the government has reassured me that it does not encourage or endorse it, there is clear evidence that ‘red tagging’ and ‘terror tagging’ as some persons have called them, are being practiced by security forces as part of their counter-terrorism strategy. Furthermore, it is also clear that such vilification is not only aimed at those who are actually associated with proscribed or listed organizations as some officials claim, it is also used to target legitimate activists and activities, sowing distrust between the State, communities and civil society.” —UN Special Rapporteur Irene Khan (February 2, 2024)

(Image by Jo Maois Mamangun)

[THIS IS THE THIRD IN A SERIES OF NOTABLE STATEMENTS MADE BY UNITED NATIONS SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND OPINION IRENE KHAN ON HER INVESTIGATION IN THE PHILIPPINES]

IRENE KHAN: Red-tagging remains common under Marcos

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“The practice is not new. State forces have practiced it for decades and was intensified, online and offline, under the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte, especially with the creation of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). It has been reported by the National Human Rights Commission and by several reputable international organizations, including OHCHR in 2020 and 2022 and the ILO High Level Mission last year….While the practice was particularly rampant under the previous administration, it remains common also in this administration, though at a lower level.” —UN Special Rapporteur Irene Khan (February 2, 2024)

(Image by Jo Maois Mamangun)

[THIS IS THE SECOND IN A SERIES OF NOTABLE STATEMENTS MADE BY UNITED NATIONS SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND OPINION IRENE KHAN ON HER INVESTIGATION IN THE PHILIPPINES]

The NTF-ELCAC as culprit in red-tagging

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“A wide range of human rights defenders, humanitarian workers, journalists, community media workers, students, artists, writers, trade unionists, teachers, youth, priests, health workers, and indigenous leaders claim to have been or are being targeted – in effect, these are people who are strongly and openly critical of government policies, who are activists, or who hold progressive views…Many have pointed their fingers at the state agency, the NTF-ELCAC either as the culprit or the instigator, but also to the military, state security officials, senior government officials, and some media outlets.”—UN Special Rapporteur Irene Khan (February 2, 2024)

(Image by Jo Maois Mamangun)

Khan: NTF-ELCAC harmful to peace talks efforts

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United Nations (UN) special rapporteur on freedom of expression and opinion Irene Khan said the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. administration’s decision to open peace talks with the revolutionary Left is a positive signal but urged however for the abolition of the government’s anti-insurgency task force.

Among her recommendations in her exit press briefing last Thursday, February 2, Khan said the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) should be abolished “to allow for more inclusive peace-building platforms.”

“The tone of the new Administration, coupled with its decision to open peace talks with insurgents and a renewed engagement with the international community, are positive signals,” Khan said.

“But addressing the serious and deep-seated human rights issues will require more fundamental and sustained reforms,” she added.

Khan said the NTF-ELCAC is “outdated” and stressed that “does not take into account the ongoing prospects for peace negotiations.”

The government, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines and the Royal Norwegian Government simultaneously announced ongoing discussions for the possible resumption of formal peace negotiations.

Immediate rejection

Khan’s recommendation was however immediately rejected by Marcos administration officials, even accusing the UN expert of blindsiding the government with her preformed opinions before arriving in the Philippines.

National security adviser Eduardo Año, Peace adviser Carlito Galvez Jr., interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr., National Security Council assistant director Jonathan Malaya and media security task force head Paulino Gutierrez in unison rejected Khan’s recommendation of Khan to abolish the NTF-ELCAC.

“Please take note that this is a 55-year old running insurgency. Now that we have reached this stage in the campaign, we feel it is improper to call for its abolition,” Malaya said, again claiming the government is about to defeat the New People’s Army (NPA).

Año for his part said the NTF-ELCAC “does not encourage red-tagging.”

Sen. Imee Marcos also mocked Khan’s call to abolish the task force as “supremely presumptuous,” belittling the length of time the UN expert spent in her in-country investigations.

“After a mere 10 days in the Philippines, during which she never visited the NTF barangays but only met a chosen few witnesses, she has the knowledge and the right to tell the Philippine government what to do?” Marcos said in a statement.

Ignorant response

Rights group Karapatan however labeled the Senator as ignorant, saying she should be schooled on international human rights mechanisms like the UN and the International Criminal Court.

“They cannot just sign human rights treaties, conventions and go to town saying that we have a ‘vibrant’ democracy, without being held accountable for the Philippine government’s obligations and commitments in this global rights system,” Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said.

Palabay pointed out that it was the government that invited Khan into the Philippines and her recommendations must be respected as part of the government’s obligations to the international community.

“What they fail to see is that it is simply game over for the NTF-ELCAC, despite all the lights and sounds show, parties and meetings they put up during SR Khan’s official visit,” Palabay said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

ABS-CBN workers and Irene Khan

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United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression and opinion Irene Khan met media groups on the first day of her official visit to the Philippines last January 23. Her staff made sure that employees of ABS-CBN would be among those she would meet.

Her invitation was enthusiastically accepted by the ABS-CBN Employees Union (ABSCBNEU). It meant that what they’ve undergone did not go unnoticed and have not been forgotten by the international community. Many things have happened since ABS-CBN—once the country’s biggest media network—has lost its terrestrial radio and television operations due to the denial of its franchise renewal bid by the Rodrigo Duterte regime in 2020.

ABSCBNEU president Jon Villanueva came prepared that Tuesday afternoon. Of the 20 or so colleagues from various non-government media organizations present in the meeting with Khan, he was the only one with a written copy of what he wanted to share.

He began with a loud enough voice, albeit shaky, obviously nervous. He said 4,000 direct workers had lost their jobs when ABS-CBN lost its franchise. He added that thousands from outsourced services like janitorial, security, fleet, clinic, technical utility, building maintenance, clinic and others also lost theirs. Villanueva said that ABS-CBN’s closure also affected the livelihood of many more, such as suppliers, adjacent restaurants, tricycle and pedicab drivers around its main headquarters in Quezon City. He said the same was probably true in the network’s 20 broadcast centers nationwide.

All eyes and ears were on the union head at this point, the gravity of his words weighing down on everyone in the room. Their experience was the biggest press freedom issue in the Philippines in the past three and a half decades after all.

Villanueva went on narrating how those who lost their jobs immediately experienced deterioration of their living standards. He said their children were transferred from private to public schools. Several had to let go of apartments or condominium units they started to pay for or have to move out of their rented houses to humbler abodes.

“Most painful of all, there were cases of employee deaths due to heart attacks after learning that they were included in the massive lay-offs…” Villanueva said before suddenly stopping as he started sobbing.

The room fell even more silent.

A fellow unionist continued reading for Villanueva who was unable to continue. He said there were a few who were able to immediately find alternative employment while the rest who were initially retained were forced to take pay cuts. They were also forced to take up the slack left behind by the bloodbath.

But many more workers would still lose their jobs years after. In 2023, around 70 workers of ABS-CBN’s online Teleradyo programs were let go. ABS-CBN’s News Channel (ANC) as a program of its Sky Cable subsidiary would also possibly close once its sale to PLDT is finalized. ANC is a rival to PLDT’s own OneNews by TV5. 

The union said ABS-CBN’s closure considerably impacted the people’s access to timely information and reliable news. This is felt most during calamities and natural disasters, especially in rural areas that relied on ABS-CBN’s news coverage. The company also provided medical and relief assistance to disaster-hit areas, a long-running program it was forced to discontinue.

“Millions of Filipinos have lost a pillar in Philippine news and mass media. The attack on ABS-CBN is not just a question of freedom of expression, it was a clear attack on workers, as well as our country’s democratic space and culture,” it ended. #

(Coincidentally, another news outfit is closing down today. It is CNN-Philippines’ last broadcast day. But that is a story for Irene Khan and the Filipino people to hear some other day.)

As we were saying, Irene Khan

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Dear Irene:

Halfway into your official visit and only after one tweet, enemies of freedom of expression and opinion in this country have already come out of the woodwork to attack your person and your mandate. Among them is a retired general and former spokesperson of the government’s counter-insurgency task force; another is a self-absorbed lawyer who once publicly defended Adolf Hitler.

But you must know about how your post on X on your visit to the Tacloban District Jail yesterday made the spokesperson of the regional red-tagging task force reply with menacing vitriol. You asked, “How long must they (journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio and fellow human rights defenders Marielle Domequil and Alexander Abinguna) wait to be freed?” and Prosecutor Flosemer Chris Gonzales responded with naked annoyance and arrogance.

UN Special Rapporteur Irene Khan (second from left) with staff and the three political detainees at the Tacloban District Jail on Friday. (Ms Khan’s X post)

Mr Gonzales alleged that you directly insulted the so-called independence of the entire Philippine judicial system, particularly the national prosecution service, by asking the question. He felt compelled to remind you that the outcome of court trials in the Philippines is not subject to ideologically-based speculation, conclusion and assumption.

I could have laughed hard at that were it not for the fact that too many innocent people have been victims of our corrupt judicial system. Leila de Lima (your fellow lawyer, former senator and former justice secretary who I heard will also be meeting you on this trip) will tell you more about it.

The public prosecutor went on to allege that your question assumes the three detainees will be free and that it encroaches on the functions of Philippine courts, putting a cloud on the so-called competence and integrity of the country’s law enforcement agencies and prosecutors. But he himself assumes the court will agree with him that the three prisoners slept with guns and grenades under their pillows (like hundreds of other political prisoners at the time of their midnight arrests), doesn’t he?

The fiscal who moonlights as a red-tagging task force mouthpiece proceeded to advise you to observe prudence and tact. Obviously bereft of these values himself, he ordered you to choose your words carefully when commenting about a host country that now happens to be ours. He seems ignorant of the fact that the state he refers to is a founding member of the United Nations of which you represent. He also “strongly reminded” you that the Philippines is a country of laws, forgetting that those laws include international covenants such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that the country signed and claims to adhere to, the very same precepts your mandate and your very presence in the Philippines are based upon.

Mr Gonzales claimed as well that every person charged with an offense in the Philippines is entitled to due process of laws. Indeed, Frenchie, Marielle and Alexander should be entitled to their rights. But the public prosecutor is obviously desperate of reminding that the arresting officers swooped like thieves in the dead of night and blindfolded them. Yes, the government harps that no one is above the law here, but we aver in turn that many are under its boot.

Gonzales meanly ended with the statement that it is not your place to pass judgment on pending trials in this country’s courts. “Know your place in our country. Respect begets respect,” Gonzales wrote. “You are not a part of our judicial system,” he added.

Thank heavens you are not, Irene. If you are, who in their right mind would think of asking your help?

But you hear us more now, right? Asking a simple question, twitting an opinion, can be dangerous in this country. It is unacceptable to the State Mr Gonzales and government officials his kind represent. #