NUJP, Other Groups “Red-tagged” During Press Freedom Week

CMFR/PHILIPPINES – A black streamer on the Press Freedom Monument at the Vicente de Lara Park in Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental on 27 May 2019 tagged the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) and several other organizations as allies of the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

Carried out by unidentified entities, the practice is common in many communities where the NUJP, student organizations and lawyers’ groups are actively defending press freedom and human rights. In some instances, those so accused have been threatened and even killed.

Cagayan de Oro is 789.64 kilometers south of Manila.

Alternative multi-media organization Kodao Productions reported that members of the Cagayan de Oro Press Club found the streamer as they were about to launch Press Freedom Week in the city.

The other organizations the streamer claimed were allies of the NPA were human rights group Karapatan, the Union of People’s Lawyers in Mindanao (UPLM), the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL), the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP), the League of Filipino Students (LFS), the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), the Student Christian Movement of the Philippines (SCMP) and the Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (Courage).

NUJP reported that the streamer was set on fire after a mass. Members of the Cagayan de Oro Press Club condemned the “red-tagging.”   

In a statement, NUJP said it salutes colleagues in Cagayan de Oro “for their show of unity against unrelenting efforts to suppress freedom of the press and of expression.”

It added that “the example set by the media of Cagayan de Oro is proof of what we have maintained all along, that the united community of independent Filipino journalists is capable of holding back the darkness that seeks to engulf us once again.”

This is not the first time that NUJP and its members have been “red-tagged.” Earlier this year, three Manila-based tabloids linked the organization to the CPP-NPA-NDF. A Mindanao-based journalist who is also a member of NUJP was accused of being part of the CPP.  NUJP was also branded as an “enemy of the state” by the Armed Forces of the Philippines in a 2006 presentation.

(see related Alerts: “Cagayan de Oro Journalist “Red” tagged,” “Tabloids link NUJP to CPP-NPA-NDF”)