A year into the pandemic, the spate of attacks and intimidation against activist groups and members of progressive organizations only worsened as tarpaulins linking them to the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA) unfurled all over Baguio City. 

The red-tagging incident started in February 2020, around the same time the pandemic hit, and attacks on other groups also escalated online.

Among the youth leaders who continuously received threats was Francheska Kapunan, League of Filipino Students Metro Baguio Chairperson. In an interview with the Collegian, Kapunan said she had sensed her life was in danger when her name and photos, along with others’, surfaced in materials linking them to communist rebels. “Nariyan ‘yong mga troll Facebook pages gaya ng One Philippines Movement for Development and Peace, Kabataan Republic, na ginagamit yung profile pictures namin, then ginagawan nila ng pubmats.”

However, the chilling effect brought by the attacks did not stop her and her colleagues from seeking support from the public in mass reporting Facebook pages that spread the malicious posts.

She elaborated on their efforts to document incidents of red-tagging on and off social media, such as by continuously talking with the UP Baguio Administration for their support. 

“Seeing the political situation sa Cordillera, it already poses the need to create greater alliances not just within sa hanay ng mga aktibista, pero a broader alliance. Kasi hindi na lang siya atake laban sa mga lokal na aktibista, pati rin sa mga estudyanteng nagiging kritikal,” Kapunan said.

Apart from spreading red-tagging allegations and defamatory tarpaulins, the Cordillera Regional Law Enforcement Coordinating Committee (RLECC), an intelligence-sharing group, proposed in February a resolution signed by 45 regional executives, allowing the police to conduct “tokhang”-style operations, the same tactic used in President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, against those who were suspected of supporting left-leaning groups in the region.

But the Regional Peace and Order Council recently junked the proposal, describing the tactic as “wrong” since it was lifted from the manual or process flow used only in anti-narcotics operations.

The resolution, though ultimately junked, was the last such threat that compelled the youth sector in the region to take their fight to the court. They filed a protective writ of amparo petition, March 24. The writ seeks to prevent not only actual violations of the rights to life, liberty, and security, but also threats of violation of such rights. 

As of writing, the hearing for the petition of the writ is still ongoing and went on twice, on March 29 and April 13.

The groups were represented by petitioners Christian Ruz of Kabataan Party List Baguio, Deanna Louisse Montenegro of the National Union of Students of the Philippines-Cordillera, Leandro Enrico Ponce, chairperson of the UP Baguio University Student Council, and Keidy Transfiguracion of the Cordilleran Youth Center. 

In a statement, they stressed that the intensifying tyranny and repression happening in other regions as well, such as the “Bloody Sunday” in the Southern Tagalog, the killing of Tumandok 9, among other human rights violations, urged them to seek protection.

Immediate Act

A day after the filing, petitioners were relieved as the case was raffled and heard on the same day it was filed. The court issued a temporary ban on all red-tagging activities by state forces against progressive groups in the region while it still hears the petition.

Judge Emmanuel Rasing of the Regional Trial Court of Baguio City Branch 3 ordered the Police Regional Office in Cordillera (PRO-Cor), on March 25, to “make no social media or tarpaulin postings, or public postings by any other means, branding/tagging herein petitioners and the organizations they belong to as stated in the petition, as communists-terrorists.”

The court also ordered then PRO-Cor Chief Police Brigadier General R'win Pagkalinawan to respond to the allegations against his office within five days. His response was not disclosed at the following hearing on March 29. 

Pagkalinawan, on April 5, was transferred to a staff position at Camp Crame and replaced by Brigadier General Ronald Oliver Lee, a former colleague of Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Debold Sinas, as head of the Cordillera Police. PNP spokesperson Brigadier General Ildebrandi Usana said the impending retirement of the Directorate for Comptrollership head triggered the revamp.

The Cordillera police was bogged down in controversies, including Pagkalinawan’s shoot-to-kill order in January against Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CAP) Chairman Windel Bolinget, whom human rights groups assert had been wrongfully charged with murder. CAP denounced Pagkalinawan’s order, saying this "encourages violence and terrorism among the ranks of the police.”

Preventive but Insufficient

The writ of amparo, however, will not suffice for the full protection of the petitioners, although it can be used as a preventive measure, said Atty. Antonio La Viña, former dean of Ateneo School of Government and a professor of law in various universities.

“I think you can use, in a way, the writ of amparo against red-tagging—to stop the act from happening. But to rule the people responsible, you need to criminalize that,” Atty. La Viña told the Collegian.

He also noted that the courts, by their own actions, have in fact weakened the writ over the years due to the high standard that they first demand from the petitioners to prove the extent to which the latter are allegedly being harassed or threatened. “In short, for the writ to be issued, you almost have to die first,” he said.

Atty. La Viña added that the court may consider changing the rules and make them more liberal for the writ to become, once again, a stronger protective mechanism. 

“I think the court has been too passive,” he said. “We always say that they are passive naman, kasi they wait for proof. I think they can be more active when it is to save lives.” 

In the case of the petitioners in Cordillera, although the court order only applied to the four of them, other progressive organizations in the region still celebrated it as a step in the right direction. 

When asked about the court order’s impact on them, Kapunan expressed hope that, through the rule of law, state forces will eventually be held accountable for the red-tagging of activists. She said that the order served as a reaffirmation and a validation for them to continue their progressive endeavors. 

“Tagumpay siya. However, this does not erase the fact na it’s just one small victory out of the many other cases ng karahasan at red-tagging na inihasik ng pasistang rehimen at ang pinaka-solusyon dito ay hindi matatagpuan sa korte,” she said. “Matitigil lang ang red-tagging kung hindi na pasista ang nakaupo sa Malacañang.” ●