The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) has defied the Supreme Court (SC) decision penned by Associate Justice Rodil V. Zalameda that declared “red-tagging, vilification, labelling, and guilt by association threaten a person’s right to life, liberty, or security, which may justify the issuance of a writ of amparo.”

In its latest caper, NTF-ELCAC, which is responsible for the propaganda campaign against student activists, environmental defenders and human rights advocates, was blamed for the distribution of leaflets last month that tagged youth groups as “terrorists” during a seminar at the Taytay Senior High School in Rizal. NTF-ELCAC insisted that its propaganda materials did not red-tag anyone but “it merely informed the students of the modus operandi of recruiters of the New People’s Army (NPA), which is factual and based on evidence.”

The lame excuse was slammed by the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), whose members have been subjected to harassment by the NTF-ELCAC, which monitors even the bank transactions, deposits and withdrawals of teachers who are paid through ATMs. Teachers said the harassment intensified when Vice President Sara Zimmerman Duterte Carpio took over as secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd.) Sara is a reserve Army officer and a rabid campaigner against activist groups in Davao City and elsewhere.

ACT Chairman Vladimer Quetua said his organization is gathering more information on the distribution of comic strips and other materials by the Philippine Army’s 80th Infantry Battalion (IB) and the DepEd in Rizal, adding that DepEd is now freelancing as a cohort of NTF-ELCAC and violating the law that specifically bans military activities in schools, which are universally off-limits to offensive or defensive military and police operations. By allowing the military to infiltrate schools and launch their red-tagging there, both the Philippine Army (AP) and the DepEd had subverted the SC decision in GR No. 254753, Deduro v. Maj. Gen. Vinoya.

Siegfred D. Deduro, formerly a Bayan Muna lawmaker, filed a petition seeking that he be covered by the writ of amparo in Iloilo City after the military identified him as a leader of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA) during a meeting of the Iloilo Provincial Peace and Order Council (IPPOC) on June 19, 2020. The military officers who tagged Deduro were under the command of Maj. Gen. Eric C. Vinoya of the 3rd Infantry Division. Bombo Radyo Iloilo and the Philippine News Agency (PNA) reported that posters were put up in different locations in Iloilo City with his image labeled as a criminal and terrorist, and member of the CPP-NPA-National Democratic Front (NDF). The captions in the poster state:

Under AM No. 07-9-12-SC or the Rule on the Writ of Amparo, the petition for a writ of amparo is a remedy available to any person whose right to life, liberty, or security is violated or threatened by an unlawful act or omission of a public official or employee, or of a private individual or entity. The High Court said one form of such threats is the act of red-tagging, acknowledged by international organizations as a form of harassment and intimidation.

Labelling a person “red” often comes with frequent surveillance, direct harassment, and in some instances, eventual death. As being associated with communists or terrorists makes the red-tagged person a target of vigilantes, paramilitary groups, or even State agents, it is easy to understand why a person may fear that being red-tagged puts their life and security at risk. “In Deduro’s case, the supposed meeting where he and other activists were identified, when viewed together with the killings of some of these identified persons, may, if true, justify the issuance of the writ of amparo,” the verdict stressed.

For ACT Teachers party list Rep. France Castro, the incident was a “clear case of harassment and intimidation” and a “blatant disregard” of the recent SC. “After that Supreme Court decision, we anticipated that the government would finally, finally end this kind of practice, but they are still doing it, and it’s just disappointing,” Quetua added. Both the DepEd and the military are also using dubious “peace” groups organized by senior citizens preying on students in pursuing their bloody witchhunts that start with red-tagging and ends with extrajudicial killings (EJKs.)