A MONTH after the controversial “terror grooming” colloquium at UST, an Artlets student filed a report before the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), saying she had experienced “intense” red-baiting and harassment after the event.
Philosophy freshman Raven Kristine Racelis said she had received online threats and had been accused of being a member of communist groups.
“I am executing this affidavit to document the red-tagging, defamation and harassment committed against me, to attest to the truth of the foregoing, to hold those responsible accountable, whether criminally, civilly, or administratively,” Racelis said in the report filed last Friday, Dec. 5.
“The red-tagging and harassment I experienced have placed me at risk– emotionally, mentally, reputationally and potentially physically. I fear the consequences of my name being publicly associated with terrorist groups, especially given the country’s history of violence and threats against red-tagged individuals.”
Red-baiting, the linking of individuals and groups to communists, is known in the Philippines as “red-tagging.”
Last Nov. 6, the UST Political Science department and the National Security Council (NSC) held the “terror grooming” colloquium despite backlash from youth groups and activists over the involvement of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
The activists claim they did not feel safe because of the presence of the NTF-ELCAC, which had accused groups and persons critical of the government of having ties with communist rebels.
The Political Science department assured Thomasians days before the event that the parts that the task force was supposed to handle had been excluded from the program.
READ: AB admin removes NTF-ELCAC from research forum after backlash from students
Racelis expressed hope that her report would prod the CHR to investigate how the colloquium was organized and prod UST to cut ties with the task force.
The creation of the NTF-ELCAC is in line with the government’s “whole-of-nation” approach to address local insurgencies.
The task force has been accused of enabling human rights violations but its members have denied any wrongdoing.
In the report, Racelis emphasized that she is not a member of the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People’s Army or the National Democratic Front.
She also detailed instances where the Facebook page “Hands Off Our Children PH,” a professor and a fellow Thomasian had associated her with insurgents, actions she deemed as red-baiting attempts.
“This is the complete opposite of what they said before the forum happened. They said they would ensure that there would be no red-tagging,” Racelis said after the filing.
“Because they did not listen to us and still went ahead with the event, this is what I am experiencing now, an orchestrated online attack from NTF-ELCAC pages,” she added.
‘Stigma’
During the event’s open forum, Racelis criticized the topics and accused two of the speakers, NSC secretariat Jose Egco and former rebel Arian Ramos, of being part of the task force.
As she was leaving the venue, a participant was heard yelling, “Alis Komunista (leave, communist).”
“I saw this as a direct consequence of the narratives promoted during the event, which encouraged stigma and prejudice against activists and progressive students,” Racelis said.
She added that subsequent posts disseminated on social media about her, including edited videos and photos with “deceptive captions,” had put her life at risk.
Persona non-grata
As this developed, the Kabataan Partylist’s chapter at the UST Faculty of Arts and Letters led a petition urging UST to declare NTF-ELCAC “persona non grata” or unwelcome within the university’s premises.
In the online petition posted on its Facebook page on Dec. 4, the youth group retold the experiences of Racelis, one of its members.
“The University must protect the Thomasian community from harassment and intimidation, uphold academic freedom, human dignity, and moral responsibility as non-negotiable principles, and ensure that faculty and academic staff do not amplify red-tagging initiatives,” the statement read.
The group also urged the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP), of which UST is a member, to dissociate with the task force and ensure that universities are free from what it described as state forces that violate human rights.
“Furthermore, we call on the [CEAP] to cut ties with NTF-ELCAC and ensure that Catholic schools remain free from state agents who violate human rights and place students in direct danger and threat,” it added. F – Betchemar Gonzales with reports from Jessica Luna
