BEFORE the self-appointed guardians of morality start squirming in their knickers, “my ass” here refers to an animal belonging to the horse family, which is typically smaller than a horse and has longer ears and a braying call a.k.a. “donkey”, and not necessarily my derriere. Simply put, it’s just a figure of speech. Rather appropriate though.
And speaking of assholes, the people who conjured “red tagging” out of thin air are also the ones “red tagging” themselves. The funny thing is, being a “communist” in the Philippines is not illegal yet these people who are terrified of being identified as one are also the ones bringing attention to themselves that they’re communists. Go to Plaza Miranda or Plaza Libertad and shout to high heavens that you’re a communist; nobody will arrest you. They’ll probably think you’re some kind of looney.
Red-tagging is a phrase conjured by the CPP/NPA/NDFP as a catch-all defensive mechanism every time government security forces identifies a person or group as a militant subversive bent on overthrowing the government through armed conflict. In other words, it’s their version of the “victim card”.
Excerpts from a July 13, 2022 article on Asian Century Journal by Anna Malindog-Uy:
On the issue of “red-tagging,” and the alleged deaths as a result of alleged government red-tagging or terrorist-tagging, claimed by the representatives of the progressive groups including members of the Makabayan bloc in Congress, they, thus far, has no substantial evidence. Some identified members of this block, the so-called “legal fronts” of the CPP-NDF-NPA, are in jail at the moment not because of so-called “red-tagging” but for criminal offenses.
It is prudent and fair to clarify for the enlightenment of the Filipino public that this so-called “red-tagging” is not among the pre-conceived policies sought to be implemented under E.O. 70, more specifically during the Duterte administration.
Likewise, it is important to emphasize what the Supreme Court ruling said that the “mere labeling of a group as a communist front is not an actual threat to one’s right to life, liberty, or security.”
Nevertheless, identifying an organization or a personality as a supporter, a member, or a CPP “cadre” backed up with solid and supporting pieces of evidence is not necessarily and not at all tantamount to “red-tagging” or “labeling” but more of exposing a fact or a truth for that matter.
Identifying those who are part of the machinery of the CPP-NDF-NPA, for a lack of a better term, should be called from now on “truth-tagging” because that is by far the crux of the matter.
It was no less than Presidnet Duterte who said that the government is “not red-tagging” the left, including the legal fronts of the CPP-NDF-NPA.
“We are not red-tagging you. We are identifying you as members in a grand conspiracy comprising all the legal fronts that you have organized headed by the NDF (National Democratic Front) and Communist Party of the Philippines.”
Take note that these so-called Makabayan block in Congress, aptly called KABAG – an acronym for Kabataan, Anakpawis, Bayan Muna, Alliance of Concerned Teachers, and Gabriella – have yet to denounce the atrocities and ultimate goal of the CPP/NPA which is to overthrow the government through armed conflict.
It’s quite obvious that these usual suspects are front organizations of the CPP/NPA taking advantage of the party-list system in Congress and using government resources to undermine the government.
Moving on, excerpts from a July 13, 2022 article on The Manila Times by Rigoberto Tiglao “Stop exposing communist fronts? That’s nuts”:
The Reds cleverly call it “red-tagging” to make it seem wrong. The term however only means exposing Red fronts as such. What’s wrong with that?
That’s nuts. It is because of communist fronts that the communist insurgency has grown since 1968, and continues as a threat to our democracy. Without these fronts, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) could not have recruited tens of thousands of our idealistic youth to their ranks, to die for a failed God.
Stopping “red tagging” would reverse the Duterte administration’s huge gains in ending the communist insurgency.
Our problem though is semantic: the usage of “tag” is that it is an arbitrary or hastily done categorization of people. What the government really means is exposing certain organizations — after much research and verification — as fronts set up by the Communist Party, which is determined to topple our democratic government. But they should be very sure their Red-tagging is accurate, or that campaign loses credibility, to the communists’ advantage.
One day “Ang Probinsyano’s” Coco Martin was doing location shooting and for the first time in his life he saw bunches of red bananas for sale along the road. He exclaimed, “Uy red tagging!” (It’s public knowledge in real life he speaks with a lisp), and by a weird twist of fate the banana vendor is a closet supporter of the CPP/NPA/NDF.
And that’s the Alamat of “red tagging.”/PN
