Witch-hunts and red tagging’s scourge in crucible of People Power

At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, on Oct. 26, 2020, then Cavite Governor Jonvic Remulla publicly criticized Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr., who was the AFP Southern Luzon Command chief, for his red-tagging activities.

- SONNY COLOMA

In a Facebook post that day, Gov. Remulla announced a ban on all anticommunist posters in Cavite province and vowed to personally remove any put up by Parlade or his men. His criticism was prompted by Parlade's controversial statements, which involved red-tagging celebrities Liza Soberano, Catriona Gray, and Angel Locsin, as well as Manila Mayor Isko Moreno.

Parlade "should be ashamed of himself" for threatening and redtagging outspoken individuals, said Remulla, calling the act "unfair, unjust, and downright cruel." He said that public red-tagging endangered people's lives and was an ineffective way to fight insurgency, which he argued should be addressed through good governance, jobs, and education.

Moving fast forward to the present, the erstwhile Cavite governor is now Local Governments Secretary and his predecessor, former AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Eduardo Año, now serves as National Security Adviser. Last year, Sec. Año hosted a media briefing at which he declared that the "whole-of-nation approach, which includes local peace engagements and development projects, has been highly effective in weakening the communist insurgency."

He credited the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) for the achievement. This body's avowed goal is "to end the local communist armed conflict through a comprehensive approach that involves government agencies, local government units, and community stakeholders." Government reports claim that "the communist New People's Army (NPA) is at its lowest point in over 50 years of activity, which they attribute to the NTF-ELCAC's strategies."