Even as the Filipino masses starve to death, the Marcos regime and its most dogged anti-communist stooges remain relentless in their senseless red-tagging. It is infuriating how the government has the gall to waste billions of pesos for baseless accusations while it does its best in denying workers of any substantial increase in wage and any step to assuage the worsening crisis.

NDF-Bikol stands with the nation’s democratic demand to dismantle all machineries of red-tagging and attacks against civilians currently led by the National Task Force to End Local Armed Conflict. The Marcos regime would have been better off heeding the people’s long-standing clamor for wage increase, adequate agricultural support, decisive price control and measures to lower inflation as well as expanding aid and social services programs instead.

More than squandering the public coffers, the regime’s red-tagging frenzy can only spell harm and danger for the people. In the hands of a terroristic state, red-tagging is a very powerful weapon of repression. For the fascist military and police, it is enough reason to arrest and worse, kill an individual even in the absence of any wrongdoing or crime. Anyone who becomes victimized with the arbitrary red-tagging of rabid bloodthirsty agents of reaction are sure to be targeted with attacks against their rights and assassination by state agents. Hundreds of activists and progressives have fallen victims to intimidation, illegal arrests and extrajudicial killings because of this.

In Bikol, almost 82% of the total extrajudicial killing victims were falsely accused of having connections to the revolutionary movement and were slain by AFP-PNP elements simply because of that.

NDF-Bikol continues in its salute and support of the courageous struggle undertaken by the Bikolano and Filipino people against red-tagging and all of this regime’s dirty attacks and tactics. NDF-Bikol also calls on all individuals and civil organizations to join this fight for the defense and advocacy of people’s rights.