Media security chief gets flak for ‘red-tagging’

Media security chief gets flak for ‘red-tagging’

MANILA, Philippines — The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), a press freedom watchdog, has called out the head of the government’s media security body for saying a detained community journalist was active in the armed communist rebellion — a practice known as red-tagging.

The NUJP criticized Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) executive director Paul Gutierrez for labeling Tacloban-based Frenchie Mae Cumpio of the alternative media outfit Eastern Vista as part of the communist armed struggle.

“It also shows the absurdity of having a body created for media security in a government task force that actively puts journalists’ security at risk by accusing them of being enemies of the state,” the group said in a statement on Thursday.

In an interview with the Inquirer on Sunday, NUJP chair Jonathan de Santos said the official’s actions violated a number of constitutional principles, such as presumption of innocence, freedom of association and expression, and press freedom.

He said officials must acknowledge that critical reporting did not mean there was any conspiracy or plot against the government.

“Red-tagging affects subjects in different ways, depending on the level of their safety, but puts them at risk regardless of who they are and where they are in the Philippines,” De Santos said.

Nonbailable raps

In an opinion column for Journal News Online on Jan. 4, Gutierrez said in Filipino that United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression Irene Khan was keen to learn of the plight of Cumpio, “who is currently detained at the Palo Provincial Jail for her active role in the local terrorist groups of the communists.”

The journalist has been behind bars since 2020 on nonbailable charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives.

Cumpio, along with four others, was arrested on Feb. 7, 2020,

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