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| Photo credits to Ceres P. Doyo in her book Macli-ing Dulag - Kalinga chief defender of the Cordillera |
By Gina
Dizon
SAGADA,
MOUNTAIN PROVINCE – Pedro, an iSagada elder and farmer said, “ay ibaldog na
ubpay nan kakailyan’ (so he places town mates in danger) when I told him that Sadanga
Mayor Gabino Ganggangan said on Facebook that “Sagada and Besao seem to remain
as the political base of the New Peoples Army (NPA) insurgency until now.”
Pedro
like any other Sagada resident in his 30s and above are knowledgeable of Sagada
having been an encounter site between members of the NPA and Armed Forces of
the Philippines(AFP) which eventually led to the people having unilaterally
declared Sagada a demilitarized zone in the late 1980s.
That
was before and Pedro is saying there are no more NPAs in Sagada now so why the
statement of Ganggangan.
It
is unfortunate that the word war between Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) chairperson
and iSagada Windel Bolinget and Ganggangan on issues of the mayor having waived
food relief as an act of ‘arrogance’ apart from not having consulted the people
of Sadanga as Bolinget claimed counter attacked by Ganggangan on questions if Bolinget has consulted IPs on the latter's representations to international fora and progressed on to red tagging by Ganggangan.
The
word war in a series of letters posted publicly on Facebook continued on with
respective statements asserting that communities- Bontoc and Sadanga Mountain Province,Tinglayan, Kalinga and the Tingguians of Abra - fought for their ancestral lands against the Chico River dam
project in the late 70s and logging operations of the Cellophil Resources
Corporation in Abra in the ‘80s.
On
to statements of Bolinget saying that Ganggangan is a member of the Cordillera Peoples
Liberation Army (CPLA) known for their notoriety of squatting in Baguio and
Ganggangan likewise saying CPA is linked to the “Communist Party of the Philippines-New
Peoples Army (CPP-NPA).”
Red
tagging pursued on and Ganggangan insinuated that CPA officers are members of the
CPP-NPA with coincidental circumstances further dragging Sagada and Besao saying
these towns are a ‘political base of the NPA.’
Pedro
must be irked by Ganggangan’s statement.
Many
a story has been that those accused of being communists, terrorists, or NPA disappeared
in mysterious circumstances till now or died under violent conditions with the
AFP as the strongly suspected perpetrators.
Some
persons including Cris Batan and Robert Estimada, both workers of the Development
Agency of Tribes in the Cordillera (DATC) were murdered in Bontoc, Mountain
Province; James Balao of CPA disappeared in Benguet and until now his body has
not surfaced, pangat leader Macliing Dulag of Tinglayan Kalinga was killed in
his hometown, and others including the recent deaths of 14 farmers in Surigao claimed by the police to be linked
to the ‘CPP-NPA’, carry stories of having been murdered by the AFP and their
integrated armed elements, the CAFGU.
While
others were arrested and detained on charges of murder and other crimes.
They
are community leaders strongly defending their lands from being dammed or mined,
and staff of non-government organizations supporting communities of their
resistance against projects aggressively implemented against the will of the
people.
They
are activists, full of dreams for a better community strongly in support of the
rights of a people.
Innocent
persons are either summarily silenced or threatened or arrested and peoples
initiatives too, in community development. Fear is a factor and that is natural
among people who are threatened.
Democracy
and political pluralism, sadly is threatened with the many threats, arrests and
deaths of activists. Human rights is
threatened with the very act of red tagging which places red tagged persons
in danger of their security to life. It presumes a criminal act even without
the benefit of due process in the courts of law on red tagged persons and
groups who are vocal and active against the excesses and omissions of
government.
Activists
question excesses and omissions of government and forward what should be a
better system.
For
one, corruption is at a high of the Philippines being the 113th least corrupt
nation out of 180 countries according to the 2019 corruption perceptions index
reported by the Transparency International and that’s 14 countries below the 2018 ranking.
Unemployment
reached 14% in 2019. A number of people don’t have jobs and to most are not
receiving enough salary for their everyday needs so they go abroad for better
pay. The Philippines also slid down one notch in the Economist Intelligence
Unit's (EIU) Democracy Index for 2019, to 54th place.
Why
silence people on their political convictions and philosophies.
Where
one wants to be a communist is one’s right. Where one wants to be a socialist
or a lennist, an animist or populist, a rightist, a leftist a centralist is
one’s preference. It’s a free world and the Philippines is a democratic
country.
Society
with its many political beliefs and ideologies is a sortie of initiatives of
many kinds- protectionism, globalization, autonomy, federalism and so on and
there is no standard set of what is politically or culturally good for this
world. Even the much touted government-led globalization is now being
criticized on big companies monopolizing trade and small entrepreneurs getting
edged off the economic arena.
This
world is not black and white blocks. It’s a spectral rainbow of beliefs, ideology,
culture, religion, and nature provides the answers to this diversity. A harmony
in diversity. If government who takes charge of a nation’s leadership shall
make it happen.
Political
societies have progressed to levels of discourse and possibilities with people
exercising their rights to free expression and assembly.
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| photo credits to Rappler |
But communism
is not illegal in the Philippines after Republic Act 1700 or the Anti
Subversion law was repealed in 1992 via RA 7636. Even Justice Secretary
Menardo Guevarra said that mere membership to the CPP is not a crime
"unless overt criminal acts are committed."
The
decriminalization of communism in 1992 did not stop authorities from red
tagging and arresting individuals as part of its anti-insurgency campaign, with
charges ranging from illegal possession of firearms and explosives, to kidnapping
and murder.
With
this, the communists, the ‘CPP- NPA’ is the enemy of the AFP- Government of the
Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and makes the country adopt an ‘either you’re with the government or
you’re not’ option of some sort. The Duterte administration does not
distinguish what is CPP from an armed NPA group.
And
CPA is accused by Ganggangan being linked with the CPP-NPA further accusing CPA
officers as members of the CPP.
CPA,
an alliance of 27 organizations spread out in the Cordillera region since its
founding in 1984 works with people in communities. Surely, they must have met NPAs
when they visit communities in the countryside, an NPA who may be a ka-ilyan or
from other parts of the country.
An
interview with a resident in the countryside said they meet NPAs who go to
their homes for a meal. And it must be that a CPA staff who happens to
be in the community tell the NPA too, to stay out from the community as it
would be dangerous to the people whenever there is an encounter between and
among the NPA with the AFP.
Bolinget
in an interview said “in the conduct of the armed conflict, civilians/non
combatants must not be affected in accordance with international humanitarian
law”.
NPAs
in the country sides are not a surprise to be seen when they come down from the
mountains and walk and talk amongst the people.
With
the government’s fight against the CPP-NPA on their anti-insurgency program had
always been a threatening stance on human rights. And people suffered.
Including CPA workers and their officers aside from other suspected communist-linked
peoples organizations as claimed by AFP.
The
very accusation of individuals and groups linkage to CPP-NPA kills free
discourse and democracy, threatening the very freedom and right to a belief on political and
economic systems, threatening healthy community discourse and relationships.
The
Supreme Court has defined redtagging as “the
act of labelling, branding, naming and accusing individuals and/ or
organizations of being left-leaning, subversives, communists or terrorists
(used as) a strategy...by State agents, particularly law enforcement agencies
and the military, against those perceived to be ‘threats’ or ‘enemies of the
State.
Commonly
defined as the harassment or persecution of a person because of “known or suspected
communist sympathies, the extensive history of red-tagging in the Philippines
has led to the recognition of several formal definitions by the Philippine
Government.
The Commission on Human Rights follows
the definition laid down by the International Peace Observers Network (IPON),
which defines redtagging as an act of
State actors, particularly law enforcement agencies, to publicly brand
individuals, groups, or institutions as...affiliated to communist or leftist
terrorists.”
Individuals
and organizations who have been red-tagged are “vulnerable to interception and
recording of communication, detention without charges, restricted travel and
personal liberties, examination of bank records, and the seizure and sequestration
of their assets”, apart from red-tagged
individuals being vulnerable to death threats and violence.
Red
tagging violates constitutional guarantees of presumption of innocence and thus
allegations should be "tried before fair and competent courts." Red
tagging by its very act places red tagged persons in danger of their security
to life.
Red
tagging further saps energy on persons and organizations who support communities. It becomes a negative factor on peoples development, people’s organizations being crucial factors of
community development as even the law and government recognizes that.
Red
tagging personalities and people’s organizations is plainly harassment and a
violation of human rights and places red tagged groups and persons in danger
and threat to their lives.
Organizations,
individuals people have been placed into the limelight of conflict and physical
harm because of the NPA-AFP war and issues have not yet been resolved.
Peace
talks is the way and it is the way to make peace in this seemingly military led,
impoverished and corruption-ridden country.
Where
customary practices imply or express, ‘tungtung’ and verbally expressing one’s
disagreement with the other to come up with agreements have been proven measures to stop conflict
and war.
Otherwise, “ay ibaldog na ubpay
nan kailyan” as Pedro said.
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