Manila: The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) has expressed concern over the proposed Anti-Red-Tagging Bill, saying it is not a safeguard for democracy but rather a dangerous shield that can be used by those who enable terrorism under the guise of legality.
According to Philippines News Agency, the task force noted that framed as a protection against malicious labeling, the bill threatens to criminalize legitimate national security disclosures, muzzle the voices of former rebels and victims of insurgency, and embolden the underground networks of the Communist Party of the Philippines - New People's Army - National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) that thrive on deception and infiltration.
On Tuesday, ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio and Kabataan Party-list Rep. Renee Co filed House Bill 213, which seeks to penalize red-tagging in the country. Under the measure, a public official or employee found guilty of red-tagging could be penalized with up to six years' imprisonment. It added that if the act of red-tagging results in injury, death, or enforced disappearance, harsher penalties under the Revised Penal Code will apply, including charges of physical injury or murder.
'Let us be clear - this bill does not protect the innocent. It protects those who exploit our freedoms to destroy them. It risks turning truth-tellers into criminals, while shielding the enablers of insurgency under the cloak of victimhood,' NTF-ELCAC executive director Undersecretary Ernesto Torres Jr. said in a statement late Wednesday. He added that the measure could criminalize legitimate disclosures - statements based on intelligence reports, sworn testimonies of former rebels, and the lived realities of communities once besieged by communist terrorist influence.
By silencing those who expose front organizations and their deep ties to the CPP-NPA-NDF, the bill empowers deception and enables impunity, Torres said. 'There is nothing democratic about protecting organizations that radicalize children, extort farmers, and infiltrate legal institutions,' he added. 'If passed, this bill will gag our security forces, silence our communities, and embolden the architects of subversion.'
Torres said the NTF-ELCAC is not a repressive body but a nationwide peace-building movement. The task force has successfully helped bring peace and development to more than 9,300 formerly conflict-ridden barangays, facilitating the surrender and reintegration of thousands of former rebels. Through the Barangay Development Program, the anti-insurgency body has poured PHP36.82 billion into communities, with an additional 4,506 barangays set to benefit between 2026 and 2028.
'These gains were not won through censorship or propaganda, but through painful truths, bold governance, and unyielding resolve. To now suggest that exposing terrorist support networks is a criminal act is to betray everything we have fought for,' Torres said. The NTF-ELCAC also blasted the selective indignation of the bill's proponents, questioning their deafening silence when children were recruited into armed conflict, rural communities were bled dry by revolutionary taxation, and women were sexually abused within underground cadres. 'Where were the so-called defenders of rights when innocent lives were shattered by the very groups they now protect? Who raised their voices when student activists were buried with NPA fighters in the hills?' Torres said.
