Student leaders hit military abuses, red- tagging of youth

By Jordan G. Habbiling

BAGUIO CITY -- Officers of the University of the Philippines (UP)-Baguio Student Council urged city officials here to denounce the alleged surveillance, harassment, and intimidation by military units on students and their families.
    UP-Baguio Student Council officers Iya Trinidad, Angelika Joven, and Kendree Almero sought an audience with the City Council last April 17 regarding the matter.
    Trinidad said five UPB students had been victims of surveillance, harassment, and intimidation by the Task Group Baguio in a span of five months.
    She claimed these students had been visited by members of the Task Group Baguio in their homes and had been accused as “potential recruits” of communist groups.
    Almero called these acts “untimely, undemocratic, and unnecessary.”
    He appealed to the City Council to “call-out” and “condemn” such acts. “Ito pong mga biktima ay mga indibidwal, kabataan, at mag-aaral lamang ng UP-Baguio na may bitbit na adbokasiya na para din sa mga kapwa nilang estudyante, (These victims are mere individuals, youth, and UP-Baguio students whose advocacy is towards the advancement of their fellow students’ general welfare.), he said.
     “As youth, we too, are peace-loving individuals. We are fighting for our rights, and we are practicing our democratic rights,” he added.

Councilor and Sangguniang Kabataan Federation president Levy Lloyd Orcales said during  public consultations regarding the proposed Youth Development Code of Baguio City, a number of students from different universities shared the same experience. 

He said it was the fourth time that student leaders had reached out to the city council to express their recurrent concern with law enforcement agencies.

Councilor Mylen Yaranon said the city council will push for legislation protecting students and other individuals against red-tagging and police/military harassment. 

Incidentally, on the same day, the city council approved on first reading a proposed ordinance establishing a mechanism that protects the rights and fundamental freedom of human rights defenders in the city.

On April 19, human rights defenders and members of various advocacy groups in the city trooped to the Multipurpose Hall of the Baguio City Hall to attend the public consultation facilitated by Councilor Jose Molintas. 

The said public consultation tackled the proposal of the Baguio City Police Office to give incentives to informants of members of communist terrorist groups.

It also discussed red-tagging incidents in the city including symposia or fora conducted by uniformed personnel in various schools in the city where various organizations were allegedly linked to communist groups and videos containing violent scenes were reportedly shown. 

Participants of the public consultation, some of them claimed to have been red-tagged, denounced the vilification of student leaders and human rights defenders by state forces. 

They also opposed the proposed reward system for tipsters of members of communist groups as this may result in a “witch hunt."

The condemned the conduct of forums in schools wherein legitimate organizations were allegedly branded as terrorist groups.

They urged the city council to enact local legislation that would uphold academic freedom and would guarantee the protection of the youth from police and military intimidation.

Task Group Baguio commander Cristopher Sab-it said the fora which they conducted in schools were part of their information education campaign against insurgency in the country.

He denied showing graphic videos and pictures during these forums.

Sab-it said he is open for dialogues with the advocacy groups and broached the idea of conducting a joint information education campaign with them. 

Meanwhile, lawyer Jerico Gay-ya of the City Legal Office, represented by lawyer Charles Dumasi, said the reward system proposed by the BCPO might just be a duplication of the same reward system provided under Republic Act no. 11479 or the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020. 

Gay-ya also suggested that there should be punishment for those who wrongly identify individuals as members of communist terrorist groups.

He added there should be a clear demarcation on the definition of activism as against terrorism, stressing that activism is not illegal as long as it does not advocate violence.

Red-tagging has always been a contentious issue in the Philippines.

Reports of red-tagging cases in different parts of the country, including Baguio City, have been documented by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), various human rights groups, and the mainstream media. 

Lawyer Joecle Dongla of the CHR-Cordillera Administrative Region said 34 cases of red-tagging were filed before the Commission on Human Rights from 2018 to 2023. Of the number, 18 were dismissed, 13 were resolved with findings on human rights violations, and four are still pending.

Earlier this year, an advocacy group called Justice and Peace Network in the Cordillera (JaPNet) also called on the city council to craft guidelines on banning red-tagging and political vilification.

The group’s appeal was prompted by an incident at Session Road where a policeman allegedly harassed 14 of its members during a chalk art activity on December 4, 2022.

According to the group, the police officer allegedly linked their solidarity messages to terrorism.

Molintas said red-tagging was “divisive” and impinges on the right to free speech.

“If we do not want people to join the New People’s Army, then we should encourage democracy, the right to assemble, and the right to seek relief. Let us stop and strike the evil that is being created by red-tagging,” Molintas said.