Red-tagging

RED-TAGGING, for me, is the laziest tactic state security forces can commit against the very people they swore to serve and protect.

The militant and critical thinking civilians should not be subjected to red-tagging just because state security forces cannot quell the armed resistance in the boondocks. It must make the distinction between armed resistance and unarmed political dissent. After all, we are still living in a democratic society the last time I checked and dissent is the cornerstone of democracy. Without it, we are no more than an authoritarian government — a government of men and not of laws.

Late last week, unscrupulous people vandalized the eastern wall of the compound of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente’s church in Barangay Bulua. This is not the first time that this church has been red-tagged. Its churches in Zamboanga and Ozamiz have also been subjected to red-tagging.

Its ninth Obispo Maximo (supreme bishop), Alberto Ramento, was brutally killed under suspicious circumstances. The assassin made it appear that it was a robbery gone awry. But the message of the killing was clear. It was meant to silence a church that has a track record of advancing the cause of the disenfranchised and the oppressed. It is, after all, the only longest standing and the most tangible result of the 1897 Philippine revolution. For this, IFI has been vilified by administrations of the past to the present.

I would like to share with you a statement of the Movement Against Tyranny-Northern Mindanao condemning the latest series of vilification campaign against IFI and the United Church of Christ in the Philippines here in our supposed city of golden friendship. Please do read on.

“Movement Against Tyranny Northern Mindanao condemns in the highest terms the recent attacks against the militant church Iglesia Filipina Independiente in Cagayan de Oro City. This is filled with the stench of malignancy and deceit to derail the church from its progressive and pro-people stance.

“For so long, churches, specifically the Roman Catholic Church have been subjected to tirades by President Duterte, to the point of speaking ill against the crux of faith of Christianity. This is the same with Iglesia Filipina Independiente and United Church of Christ in the Philippines. These two protestant churches have been subjected to vilification through highway spray paints in Zamboanga and Ozamis, bearing the messages IFI=NPA, UCCP-NPA.

“All of these patterns point to put the institution and the lives of its members under peril. Such method sets the atmosphere that justifies tragedy that may befall on them for being so-called ‘terrorists.’ On the 24th of January, spray paints claiming that the clergies of IFI are terrorists and NPA supporters, followed with similar spray paints in the Cathedral enclose at Pabayo-Pacana Sts, Cagayan de Oro City on 25th.

“The church would never support terrorists. It has always been a stand of religious groups for the Peace Talks to resume which Duterte and the mercenary AFP spoils time and time again.

“It is of no surprise that institutions such as the church that champions reforms favoring the basic sectors are antagonized by its polar opposite anti-people, fascist-tyrannical administration of Duterte. We call on all religious gathering to join against a tyrant who declines tune in to the clamor of the people for genuine, just and lasting peace. It is our fight for the safety of all Filipino families and for their right to live in a peaceful society.  It is high time that we all come to demonstrate the undaunted faith that has always been of the poor and for the poor.”