By FRANCESSCA ABALOS
Bulatlat.com

MANILA — Since the start of the regular voting period at 7 a.m., election watchdogs Kontra Daya and Vote Report PH have been monitoring and verifying election irregularities reported via social media posts, text messages, phone calls, and website forms. One consistent issue is red-tagging, the labeling of individuals or organizations as “communist sympathizers” or “communist-terrorists.” 

According to the Commission of Elections (Comelec) Resolution No. 11116, the act of red-tagging constitutes an election offense. However, as of Vote Report PH’s initial 2:30 p.m. report, 35 (6.2%) out of 566 verified voter reports were related to red-tagging. The majority of these reports occured in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), with a handful of cases from Rizal, Iloilo, Bulacan, and Metro Manila.

Although still incomplete, the available data from Vote Report PH already indicate an increase in red-tagging since the 2022 national elections. 

Rochelle Porras, coordinator of the Workers Electoral Watch (WE Watch), said, “The attacks intensified because the people are showing strength. They are tired of the current [systems] of patronage politics and political dynasties. And, because the calls of the people for genuine political change are stronger, the attacks of the different elements [of these oppressive systems] against them intensified too.”

Progressive candidates, particularly the Makabayang Koalisyon ng Mamamayan (Makabayan) bloc and its party list affiliates such as Bayan Muna, Gabriela, ACT Teachers, and Kabataan are the primary targets of red-tagging.

Porras said that red-tagging is not simply labeling. She said that it is an act and threat of “violence” which aims to discredit candidates. 

The Makabayan bloc recently filed a case against the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict with Comelec. In a similar vein, Bayan Muna released a statement yesterday, May 11, condemning the red-tagging they faced leading up to the polls. 

Today, however, the campaign posters of these different groups were defaced with the letters “NPA.” Red-tagging posters against Makabayan’s affiliated party-lists have been spread around one precinct. Onlookers claimed they were distributed by police officers. 

Porras said that red-tagging does not simply affect groups but individuals as well. The defacing today of indigenous leader and Itogon Councilor candidate Rima Aramon-Balacdao Mangili’s campaign posters is one such example. 

“The state does not like voices of dissent,” she said.

An electoral constant

During the campaign period, both the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) and the Commission of Human Rights (CHR) issued statements voicing concern over a surge in alleged red-tagging cases.

The data released by Vote Report PH on May 10, the last day of official campaigning, proved the validity of these concerns. The group found that red-tagging constituted the majority of the 1,750 verified reported campaign violations, with 99.63% of online violations and 47.26% of on-the ground violations related to it. Another dramatic rise since the 2022 election where red-tagging accounted for 24.1 percent of campaign violations at the time.

For Porras, this reality exposes the complicity of the state. “The more concerning thing is the government’s inaction [on red-tagging] […] There are dialogues, yes, we do not deny that… but these are not enough to diffuse or end red-tagging and end its violence,” she said.

Porras asserts that the fight to end red-tagging during and beyond the 2025 midterm election requires involvement by all sectors. She pointed out that many lives have been lost and harmed by red-tagging perpetuated by the National Task Force to End the Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). (RTS, RVO)