- Former rebels urge De Lima to reconsider push to criminalize ‘red-tagging’
A FORMER secretary general of the New People’s Army operation in Davao Region urged representative-elect Leila De Lima to engage with rebel returnees before pushing for legislation criminalizing “red-tagging.”
Arian Jane Ramos, who went by the nom de guerre Ka Marikit, is among the over 55,000 self-identified members of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front of the Philippines (CPP-NPA-NDFP) who surrendered to the government.
Ramos previously held positions as a chairperson of Gabriela Youth-UP Mindanao and secretary of the New People’s Army Guerrilla Front 55, challenged the lawmaker’s stance on “red-tagging,” arguing that their testimonies are not hate speech but “lived experience” crucial for informed policy-making.
“You say that red-tagging is a threat to truth. But I ask, whose truth are we defending?” the open letter she wrote read.
The letter was signed by former rebels, including Lumad students from Salugpongan and ALCADEV, children from barrios, young people from “bakwit schools” in UP Diliman and UCCP Haran in Davao City, Indigenous Peoples from Talaingod, Davao del Norte, and farmers from Samar and Cagayan Valley. They also include former members of well-known organizations such as Gabriela, Kilusang Mayo Uno, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, Anakbayan, League of Filipino Students, Sabokahan, and even the newly elected Kabataan Partylist.
“Many of us later became members of the New People’s Army all over the country,” the letter stated. “We were the ones who raised our left fists before the red flag and uttered, ‘Ihalad ang kinabuhi, kung gikinahanglan.‘ We once thought we were fighting for justice—until we realized we were merely pawns in a war that consumed our communities.”
Ramos insisted that not all who speak against CPP-NPA-NDFP fronts are “red-taggers,” but rather “survivors” who were recruited through mass organizations that “preached activism but funneled us into the armed struggle.”
The signatories appealed De Lima’s constitutional duty as she prepares to take her seat in Congress. “To silence us in the name of protecting civil liberties is to protect the very machinery that harmed us,” they assert, urging her to “reach out to those most affected by the violence and deception” of the communist movement.
“We are not asking you to silence dissent,” the former rebels clarify. “We are asking you to distinguish between dissent that builds and ideology that destroys.”
They urge the lawmaker to listen to people “who once served under the revolutionary shadow government” and speak with “mothers who have lost their children because of the armed struggle.”
“Criminalizing red-tagging must not become a shield for those who work both in the open and the shadows to violently overthrow our government. The real danger lies not in naming terrorists, but in failing to act against them.”
“Talk to us so you will know who truly deserves to be criminalized, and who among us is now working to heal the very wounds we once helped inflict.”
Last week, De Lima, an ML Party-List nominee, vowed to push for a law that would criminalize red tagging as she said it is a “threat to truth.” While she was still a senator, she also co-authored a bill seeking to penalize red-taggers with a 10-year imprisonment.
