President Rodrigo Duterte and his administration will not take action that will harm journalists, the Palace said Sunday after a Cagayan de Oro-based media group denounced the red-tagging of journalists in the city.
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said journalists who had no links to the communist movement should be worry-free.
“If you are not doing anything wrong, you should not be afraid. In fact, the President ignores those who keep on criticizing him, Panelo said in a radio interview.
His remarks came after the Cagayan de Oro Press Club condemned in the “strongest terms” the “black, cheap” propaganda of linking them as part of the Communist Party of the Philippines.
In a statement issued Saturday, COPC president Manuel Jaudian said some of their members had attended a solidarity protest earlier this week in support of ABS-CBN when a courier delivered copies of bond paper-sized posters that accused them of being members of the communist group.
Among those who were red-tagged were MindaNews writer and Inquirer correspondent Froilan Gallardo, Mindanao Goldstar Daily associate editor Cong Corrales, Mindanao Goldstar Daily photojournalist Joey Nacalaban, and Sunstar-Cagayan de Oro editor Pamela Jay Orias.
The posters were distributed at the provincial capitol grounds on Friday.
Jaudian urged the police and the military to look into the “seemingly witch-hunting efforts of some misguided elements.
Panelo said the military would rely on “basis and evidence” when it came to those who had been suspected to be CPP members.
The CPP and its armed wing, the New People’s Army, have been tagged as a terror group in the Philippines.
Government critics have been criticizing the Duterte administration for allegedly red-tagging those who express dissent to state policies.
Earlier in February, the think-tank IBON Foundation filed a complaint against National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon, Presidential Communications and Operations Office Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy, and Southern Luzon Command chief Major Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. for linking them to the CPP.
IBON insisted it is a foundation providing socio-political-economic analysis.