Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City, Metro Manila

TWENTIETH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

213

House Bill No.

Introduced by
KABATAAN Party-list Rep. RENEE LOUISE M. CO
and ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. ANTONIO L. TINIO

AN ACT
PENALIZING RED-TAGGING AND PRESCRIBING PENALTIES THEREFOR

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The 1987 Constitution of the Philippines, in its Bill of Rights, unequivocally
guarantees the freedom of speech, of expression, of the press, and the right of the people
peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances. It further
affirms that no person shall be detained solely by reason of his political beliefs and
aspirations. These fundamental rights form the bedrock of any society that purports to be
democratic.

However, these constitutional protections are systematically being violated through
the vicious and systematic state policy of “red-tagging’—the malicious act of labeling,
vilifying, and accusing individuals and organizations of being communists, terrorists, or
enemies of the state. This practice is not a harmless exercise of free expression; it is a de
facto death threat, a prelude to a host of other grave human eights violations, including
surveillance, harassment, arbitrary detention, torture, enforced disappearance. and
extrajudicial killing,

The grave danger posed by this practice has now been unequivocally recognized by
the highest court of the land. In the landmark case of Deduro v. Vinoya, Supreme Court
Associate Justice Rodil Zalameda declared that “red-tagging, vilification, labelling, and guilt
by association constitute threats to a person's right to life, liberty, or security.” This judicial
affirmation validates the lived experiences of activists and the lang-held position of human
rights advocates that red-tagging is a direct and credible threat that warrants decisive
legislative action.


This insidious state policy has been perfected and institutionalized over decades as a
primary weapon in the state’s counter-insurgency campaigns. In recent years, it has been
wiclded with unparalleled brazenness by the National Task Force to End Local Communist
Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), a monstrous machinery of state terror created by Executive
Order No. 70. This Task Force orchestrates a relentless campaign of vilification, weaponizing
billions in public fands—the people’s own money—to sow fear and division. It conducts
witch hunts in government fora, plasters defamatory posters along public roads, and floods
social media with disinformation to discredit and endanger the lives of those who dare to
dissent,

The impact on the victims and their families is injurious and irreversible. Once a
person or organization is red-tagged, a target is placed on their back. They are forced to live
in constant fear for their lives, liberty, and security, their names and reputations permanently
stained by bascless accusations. This creates a powerful chilling effect that extends
throughout society, deliberately conditioning the public to accept, and even justify,
extrajudicial punishment against those who are singled out. The ultimate goal is to silence all
forms of dissent and crush the organized resistance of the Filipino people against anti-people
and anti-national policies.

The list of victims is long and continues to grow. Long-time activists Randall Echanis,
and Randy Malayao, community organizers Jory Porquia and Zara Alvarez, human rights
lawyer Atty. Ben Ramos, and Lumad school teacher Chad Booc are but a few of the countless
patriots who were brutally murdered after being relentlessly red-tagged by state forces. Their
deaths are a testament to the lethal nature of this state policy.

To allow red-tagging to continue with impunity is to sanction violence perpetrated by
the state. It is to surrender our fundamental freedoms and allow the state to operate as an
instrument of repression rather than a protector of rights. Criminalizing this heinous act is an
urgent and necessary step to defend our democracy, uphold the rule of law. and protect the
lives of the Filipino people. This bill seeks to provide a legal definition for red-tagging and
prescribe severe penalties for its perpetrators, thereby dismantling the architecture of
impunity that has enabled these crimes for far too long.


For the foregoing reasons, the passage of this bill is sought.

fi A.

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Rep. Rend YOUISE M.CO Zo ReANTONIO L. TINIO
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KABA Party-List ACT Teachers Party-List

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Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
Quezon City, Metro Manila

TWENTIETH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

213

House Bill No.

Introduced by
KABATAAN Party-list Rep. RENEE LOUISE M. CO
and ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. ANTONIO L. TINIO

AN ACT
PENALIZING RED-TAGGING AND PRESCRIBING PENALTIES THEREFOR

Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress
assembled:

SECTION 1. Title. This Act shall be known as the “Anti-Red-tagging Act of 2025”.

SECTION 2. Definition. Red-tagging is the act of publicly labeling, vilifying, branding,
naming, accusing or caricaturing individuals, groups, or organizations of being state enemies,
subversives, armed rebels, communists or terrorists, or fronts thereof, thereby implying or
insinuating involvement or engagement in armed rebellion, acts of terrorism or any
wrongdoing or criminal acts; Provided, That such act is committed with the use, directly or
indirectly, of public position and/or of public funds; Provided further, That if a public official
or employee commits red-tagging, a disputable presumption that it was committed with the
use of public position and/or of public funds attaches.

SECTION 3. Forms of Red-Tagging. Red-tagging is committed through statements, social
media posts, announcements, declarations, signages, streamers, placards, public fora and
other similar venues or media where individuals, entities, groups and/or organizations are
publicly labeled, vilified, branded, named, accused or caricatured as described in Section 2 of
this Act.

SECTION 4. Offenses.

a. Any public official, employee, and/or their agents who red-tags any individual in
accordance to Section 2 and 3 of this Act shall be punished by prisién correccional for
violation of this Act.

b. If the individual red-tagged was injured by reason or by any cause arising from the red-
tagging by the accountable public official, employee, and/or their agents, the public official,
employee, and their agents, shall be punished by a degree higher than those in accordance


with Art, 262 to Art, 265 (Physical Injuries) of the Revised Penal Code and a fine not
exceeding 6,000 plus damages.

c. If the individual red-tagged was killed by reason or by any cause arising from the red-
tagging by the accountable public official, employee, and/or their agents, the public official,
employee, and their agents, shall be punished in accordance with Art. 248 (Murder) of the
Revised Penal Code.

d. If the individual red-tagged was involuntarily disappeared by reason or by any cause
arising from the red-tagging by the accountable public official, employee, and/or their agents,
the public official, employce, and their agents, shall be punished under R.A. 10353 or
An Act Defining And Penalizing Enforced Or Involuntary Disappearance.

c. Any public officer, employee, and/or their agents who are found guilty of any of the
aforementioned offenses shall also be imposed a penalty of perpetual absolute
disqualification to hold public office.

f. The penalties for violation of this act and their probable consequences shall be without
prejudice to the filing of administrative and civil cases against the offender/s.

SECTION 5. Amendatory and Repealing Clause. All laws. decrees, executive orders,
resolutions, revenue regulations, ordinances or circulars inconsistent with the provisions of
this Act are hereby repealed or modified accordingly or declared null and void and
inoperative.

SECTION 6. Separability Clause. ~ Should any provision of this Act be subsequently
declared unconstitutional, other provisions insofar as they may be separable from the invalid
ones shall remain in full force and effect.

SECTION 7. Effectivity. This Act shall take effect immediately upon its publication in the
Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation

Approved,