Safety fears after Philippines names Oxfam a front for communist terror
- A national council of churches and women’s political advocacy group were likewise singled out by the country’s defence establishment this week
- Critics say the practice, known locally as ‘red-tagging’, has been used to silence dissent and puts people’s lives at risk
While in other countries, identifying someone as a communist militant might be written off as “besmirching” their good name, in the Philippines “red-tagging” – as the practice is known locally – “causes death”, said Neri Colemnares, chairman of the leftist political group Bayan Muna and head of the Philippines’ National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL).
The former congressman pointed to the unsolved murders of activist Randy Malayao, shot dead while sleeping on a bus in January, and human rights lawyer Ben Ramos, who was gunned down in a drive-by shooting last November. Both had been “red tagged” before their deaths.
Fellow human rights lawyer Criselda Heredia, an NUPL member, survived having her car sprayed with bullets by gunmen riding motorcycles in an armed ambush in September this year. She had previously faced accusations of being a communist sympathiser.
