Individuals and groups in Luzon who are victims of Red-tagging both by the former Duterte regime and the current Marcos regime appeared at the hearing of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR). They relayed their experience at the hearing on January 14 and 15 at the CHR Quezon City office. They called for the dismantling of the National Task Force (NTF)-Elcac and the repeal of the Anti-Terror Law which they consider to be the main Red-taggers.

The activity is part of a series of CHR hearings on Red-tagging that began in 2024, from the push of human rights groups. A series of hearings began in July 2024 and circulated in Visayas and Mindanao, and in Luzon this January. Various democratic organizations including the Karapatan alliance attended these hearings.

Women community leaders in Tondo, Manila were among those who shared their experience in Red-tagging. They said that militarization is has been prevalent in their community since late 2022. Monitoring of their houses and hanging posters implicating them to the Communist Party of the Philippines (PKP) and the New People’s Army (NPA) have also been rampant.

They added that on one occasion, soldiers forced them to gather to receive aid in what was later revealed as a “surrender” ceremony. The 11th Civil Military Operations Battalion perpetrated these human rights violations.

Several Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) representatives also attended the hearing to share their experience. “Remote rural barangays experienced worse because their communities and production areas are subjected to aerial bombing and shelling,” Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay, and also herself a victim of Red-tagging, said.

She said, a “de facto” martial law prevails in these communities where soldiers enforce hamlets and food blockades. She added that Red-tagging and terror-tagging and other more serious human rights violations are not isolated, but are part of counterinsurgency operations in militarized communities.

Karapatan acknowledged the CHR’s efforts to hold these hearings regarding Red-tagging to see its overall picture and prevalence in the country. In addition to this, Palabay called on the CHR to investigate the severe effects of urban and rural militarization cases that violate human rights and their welfare.