Civil Society Urge Passage of Anti-Red Tagging Legislation
- Defend NGOs Alliance
- Jan 11
- 3 min read
The Council for People’s Development and Governance (CPDG), together with the Defend NGOs Alliance, stands in unwavering solidarity with Atty. Antonio Gabriel “Dean Tony” La Viña and all human rights defenders (HRDs) who continue to face grave threats to their lives, security, and freedom as a result of red-tagging.
Last December 2025, retired Lt. General Antonio Parlade, former spokesperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), publicly red-tagged human rights lawyer, environmental defender, educator and peace advocate Atty. La Viña. Parlade reacted to La Viña’s support for Lumad schools and defense of the Talaingod 13 group of indigenous people’s teachers and advocates convicted by the Court of Appeals. La Viña critically examined and questioned the ruling in his article published by Rappler on December 22, 2025. Instead of engaging the substance of his arguments, Parlade resorted to vilification and baseless accusations, branding legitimate legal advocacy and human rights work seditious.
Parlade also attacked other civil society organizations (CSOs) and individuals, including the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL), for standing in defense of La Viña and the Talaingod 13. This is despite his already having been found guilty of red-tagging by the Ombudsman in August 2023. Parlade, former Communications Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy, and former National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. were then reprimanded for red-tagging the NUPL. The decision found the former officials guilty of conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service. Numerous other similar complaints have been filed against Parlade.
The Supreme Court has already recognized the dangers of red-tagging. In its landmark ruling in Deduro v. Vinoya promulgated on May 8, 2024, the Court categorically declared red-tagging, vilification, labelling, and guilt by association as threats to a person’s life, liberty, and security. These often lead to surveillance, harassment, trumped-up charges of terrorism or terrorism financing, arbitrary detention, and even extrajudicial killings.
Yet despite this clear judicial pronouncement, and despite repeated recommendations from United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteurs and the UN Human Rights Council calling on the Philippine government to stop red-tagging and dismantle the NTF-ELCAC, the practice continues with alarming impunity. The absence of an Anti-Red Tagging Law and a Human Rights Defenders Protection Law only emboldens former and current officials, state forces, and institutional machineries to persist in the abuses without fear of accountability.
Red-tagging targets not only individual HRDs and NGOs but entire communities asserting their economic, social, and cultural rights (ESCR). Indigenous peoples, farmers, urban poor communities, and environmental defenders opposing mining operations, large dams, reclamation projects, and land dispossession are among the most affected. Human rights group Karapatan has documented more than 10 million victims of threats, harassment and intimidation from July 2022 to November 2025 under the governance of Pres. Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. — surpassing even those recorded during the Duterte administration, who openly rejected human rights.
We call on civil society, development partners, the Commission on Human Rights, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, the diplomatic community, policymakers and legislators to urgently push for the enactment of an Anti-Red Tagging Law and the Human Rights Defenders Protection Law.
We likewise strongly urge the Philippine government to heed the recommendations it accepted from fellow states and international human rights mechanisms. No government that genuinely claims to respect and uphold human rights should allow the systemic vilification of human rights defenders, NGOs, and people’s organizations. Ending red-tagging and protecting human rights defenders is not optional. Governments are duty bound to uphold and protect the human rights of its citizens.#
Please read also:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Be1W1Y2hG - Red-tagging-vs-lawyer-a-dangerous-tactic, Bulatlat
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17szwD8Wve - Groups denounce ex-general Parlade attacks vs. Atty. La Viña
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