The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in a statement last 13 July 2023 condemned the Marcos II government over its recent ‘red-tagging frenzy’ against human rights defenders and activists in the Philippines.
The statement was made in response to the Anti-Terrorism Council’s terrorist designation of Cordilleran activists Sarah Abellon-Alikes, Jennifer Awingan and Stephen Tauli, and Mindanao-based human rights defenders Jovencio Tangbawan and May Vargas-Casilao. Under the Anti-Terror Law of 2020, the ATC has the authority to designate anyone as terrorist without the need to file evidence in court. The ATC’s Resolution No. 41, dated 7 June 2023, was quickly followed by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) releasing a freeze order on the accounts and assets of the six individuals.
According to the NDFP, the terror-tagging of legal activists “is proof that the Marcos II’s regime is hell-bent on using its so-called ‘war on terror’ to target government critics and dissenters similar to the use of the ani-subversion law of his ousted dictator father.”
“The ATL, disguised as a legal instrument meant to keep ‘peace and order,’ is essentially weaponized, providing the Marcos II administration a license to terrorize anyone who is critical of the government,” the NDFP added.
The NDFP called to dismantle “machineries of state terror” including the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac), the ATC and the ATL which they argue are “part and parcel of the US-Marcos regime’s war against the Filipino people.”
Prior to this latest string of ATC designations, the NDFP also called for the release of NDFP peace consultants Frank Fernandez and Cleofe Lagtapon. According to Julie de Lima, Interim Chairperson of the NDFP Peace Negotiating Panel, the cases filed against Fernandez and Lagtapon were ‘trumped-up charges concocted by the Manila government’ and violates the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG).
JASIG is an agreemeent signed in 1995 and was duly approved by respective principals of the GRP and the NDFP. The JASIG safeguards participants in the peace negotiations from surveillance, arrest, detention, prosecution, or any other similar punitive actions. In 2017 preceding the collapse of the peace negotiations, Duterte unilaterally ‘terminated’ JASIG. However, the NDFP asserts that JASIG remains in effect and stresses Duterte did not terminate the agreement according to agreed protocol.
“The NDFP strongly asserts that JASIG remains in full force and effect unless otherwise terminated according to the terms of the agreement,” the NDFP stressed.