Human rights group Karapatan National Capital Region renewed its call to resume peace talks between the Philippine government (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) following United Nations Special Rapporteur Irene Khan’s key findings and recommendations to make institutional reforms to safeguard freedom of speech delivered before the 59th United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland.
Khan emphasized that such positive actions made by the current Marcos Jr. administration are simply not enough to make a meaningful difference to the state of freedom of expression in the Philippines in light of the continuing impunity, vilification, red-tagging threats to civil society actors particularly journalists, human rights defenders, among others under the guise of counterterrorism.
“There can be no genuine peace without the protection of rights. We call on the Marcos Jr. administration to resume peace negotiations rooted in the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL),” said Karapatan NCR in a statement, adding that the continued red-tagging, criminalization of dissent, and attacks on human rights defenders and critical journalists stand in direct violation of this agreement.
While significant progress has been made, especially with the May 2024 Supreme Court ruling that marks in the jurisprudence the dangers of red-tagging to the right to life, liberty, or security, allowing the issuance of a writ of amparo to those subjected by the attacks, Khan bared that such practice persists even during her 2024 official visit to the country.
“The overall aim of such vilification, harassment, threats and violence is to intimidate and chill expression, suppress legitimate activism, weaken academic freedom and undermine independent journalism, public debate and criticism of State policies. It delegitimizes human rights work, weakens public trust in civic action and makes it difficult for critical voices to influence public opinion. Ultimately, it reduces the free flow and diversity of information and ideas, which are essential for a healthy and dynamic democracy,” said Khan in her report.
The report further cites “considerable evidence” that red-tagging is weaponized as part of the state’s strategy to counterterrorism. Government officials, security forces, and other state actors are instigators of red-tagging themselves, with 61% of more than 450 incidents attributed to them in the first half of 2024 as per civil society figures.
Rhetorics vs reality
CARHRIHL, signed in 1998, is a formal agreement between the GRP and the NDFP that affirms mutual commitments to uphold human rights and international humanitarian law during armed conflict. It was reaffirmed in November 2023 during the Oslo Communique where both parties renewed for a principled and peaceful resolution of the armed conflict, including efforts to address its root causes and end the armed struggle, with the aim of paving the way for the transformation of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the New People’s Army (NPA), and the NDFP.
Since the cancellation of formal peace negotiations by former Duterte administration in mid-2017, no official formations of the CPP, NPA, or NDFP have engaged in so-called localized peace talks with the GRP. The NDFP has consistently asserted that only its Negotiating Panel is authorized to engage in formal peace negotiations with the GRP.
“While the Oslo Communiqué presented a window of opportunity for the resumption of peace talks, the Marcos Jr. administration has continued to undermine basic civil liberties on the ground,” Karapatan NCR noted.
According to the rights group, marginalized groups have since endured the harrowing threats of red-tagging and militarization, which has been insitutionalized at the helm of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 (ATA). Both are being weaponized as a tool for silencing dissent.
NTF-ELCAC was established upon the implementation of Executive Order 70 under the former Duterte administration in 2018, which Khan finds as a major instigator of red-tagging.
Beyond such practice, human rights defenders and journalists further expressed strong condemnation against the ATA which echoes the special rapporteur’s concern following its chilling effect on freedom of expression.
Khan emphasized that ATA provides immense power to the Anti-Terrorism Council to designate terrorists based on vague definition of terrorism, to arrest individuals without judicial warrant, to extend detention without formal charges, and to wiretap individuals deemed threat to national security, thus infringing right to privacy that induces a chilling effect upon journalists, human rights defenders, and civil society activists.
Even the established Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) during the Duterte administration is marred by issues in practice despite being referred to as “media security vanguards”. In Khan’s field visits, she cited discovered lack of awareness and effectiveness as police and judicial actors remain poorly trained in responding to press freedom violation, worse, some of them are complicit in attacks.
“Reporting critically on State policies, informing the public about the state of the insurgency, documenting or speaking out against human rights violations committed by State authorities, protesting against economic and social injustices that are root causes of violent extremism and working in the community to reduce such injustices are not acts of terrorism or support for terrorists but legitimate activities under international human rights law and the national laws of the Philippines,” Khan said in her report.
The UN rapporteur documented over 450 cases of red-tagging in just the first half of 2024, 61% of which were perpetrated by government actors, particularly NTF-ELCAC. In fact, civil society figures recorded at least 427 activists who were redtagged before being killed. Khan further noted that activists, journalists, labor unionists, and even teachers and students have been profiled, surveilled, and vilified under a dangerous counterterrorism framework.
Free Frenchie Mae
One of the emblematic victims of red-tagging and the ATA is Frenchie Mae Cumpio, a community journalist based in Tacloban. Even Former PTFoMS chief Undersecretary Paul Gutierrez once tagged Cumpio as an “active participant” of the communist armed struggle in January 2024.
She has been detained since 2020 on charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives, later followed by allegations of terrorism financing. Such charges that are widely denounced by human rights groups and journalist organizations as fabricated and politically motivated.
Khan was the first and only international visitor who was allowed to meet with Cumpio alongside human rights advocates Mariel Domequil and Alexander Philip Abinguna. She deeply expressed disappointment that the three, who were in their early twenties when they were arrested, have been languishing in detention for more than four years—a duration she described as tantamount to serving a sentence without conviction.
Cumpio only faced trial after four years of detainment last November 2024 at the Tacloban court. Since then, the court has proceeded with the presentation of prosecution evidence.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) slammed such tactical delays following the repeated postponements due to absent witnesses which contributed to prolonging her pre-trial detention.
Khan further emphasized the need to end impunity for violations against journalists, human rights defenders, and activists. She also urged the Marcos Jr. administration to release Cumpio whose charges she described as “manifestly unfounded.”
The cost of dissent and critical reportage
Karapatan NCR pointed to the alarming trend of red-tagging against students, local labor union, environmental defenders, urban poor among many humanitarian workers.
In Khan’s report, academic freedom is also not spared from the damages inflicted by the practice of red-tagging as there have been reports of academics, teachers, and students who were terror-tagged to discredit their research.
Security agencies once pressured public universities into removing books they deemed “subversive” from its libraries, undermining institutional autonomy. Student organizations and campus media outlets are also subjected to such attacks.
NTF-ELCAC also infiltrated universities via the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) and other seminars to spout propaganda against progressive, opposition figures they link to the New People’s Army (NPA).
National Union of Students of the Philippines NCR (NUSP NCR) reported that campus militarization at the helm of ROTC has led to the formation of Student Intelligence Networks (SIN), reported to be an extension of the AFP’s counterinsurgency program. These networks aim to monitor and vilify militant groups, fraternities, student councils, and school publications.
“Until now, labor leaders Mark Ryan Cruz, Jaymie Gregorio, Romina Astudillo, Joel Demate, Bob Reyes, alongside other political prisoners remain in detention and falsely accused of fabricated charges,” said Karapatan NCR.
Cruz, Gregorio, Astudillo and Demate are among the arrested activists and labor organizers, dubbed as the Human Rights Day 7, on December 2020.
Manila Today editor Lady Ann Salem along with Sandingan ng Manggagawa sa Quezon City organizer Rodrigo Esparago were also part of HRD7 but were freed on March 2021.
Karapatan NCR stressed a pattern that these individuals have been persistently red-tagged even before, during, and after their arrest.
In fact, when Salem and Esparago were freed, several badly-designed tarp materials were put up along pedestrian overpasses and sidewalks in EDSA Shaw in Mandaluyong, where the two had been detained. They were red-tagged along with Mandaluyong Judge Monique Quisumbing-Ignacio who handled the case of Salem.
Up to this date, both continue to face ongoing legal battles and relentless red-tagging threats, notably through Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI), branding them as “urban operatives” of CPP-NPA and threatening to be accused under the ATA.
Esparago was also recently implicated in a terror charge filed by elements of the 82nd Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army in Nueva Ecija and referred to the anti-terror court in Bulacan. Esparago was tagged as a member of the CPP-NPA involved in an alleged armed encounter with the AFP in Laur, Nueva Ecija in October 2023. The Malolos anti-terror court swiftly dismissed the case in September 2024.
As of March 2025, Karapatan recorded more than five million cases of threats, harassment and intimidation since Marcos Jr. sat in power. Among other violation of civil and political rights include 124 extrajudicial killings, 261 illegal or arbitrary arrest, 66,617 indiscriminate firing, 15 enforced disappearances, 563 fake surrrender, 51,206 indiscriminate bombings and 45,097 forced evacuation
A cue to resume to peace talks
In Khan’s official report to the UNHRC, she urged for the abolition of NTF-ELCAC and recommended a shift toward inclusive peace-building that addresses the root causes of conflict. She also called for the review and amendment of the following its vague definitions and the chilling effect it causes to press freedom and legitimate dissent.
Karapatan NCR underscored these findings should be taken as a cue to return to peace negotiations. According to the group, such abuses violate CARHRIHL’s provisions designed to protect the rights to protest, organize, and express dissent without fear.
The group also added that while there has been a proactive outreach following the Oslo Joint Communiqué, the Marcos Jr. administration along with NTF-ELCAC has instead rolled out amnesty programs targeting activists and critics to forcibly surrender and to admit guilt for fabricated political offenses. The amnesty program, institutionalized under Proclamation 404, was announced immediately after the joint agreement, which Karapatan NCR found to be absurd and a desperate scheme especially when the Philippine government prioritized localized surrenders campaigns and red-tagging over resuming formal peace negotiations.
Meanwhile, other recommendations echoed by Khan include the passage of the Media and Entertainment Workers’ Welfare Act and Human Rights Defenders Protection Act, the decriminalization of libel, and the strengthening of the Commission on Human Rights. She also pressed to have a designation of a special prosecutor for crimes against journalists and human rights defenders and adoption of an executive order that denounces the practice of red-tagging.
Karapatan NCR commended Khan’s findings as vital prerequisites to uphold accountability and create a conducive environment especially for peace negotiations.
“If the Marcos Jr. administration is serious to address human rights, then he must pursue genuine developments about the resumption of peace talks. Failing to act now will only deepen mistrust and violence,” Karapatan NCR concluded.
