Stop the red-tagging! Red-Taggers are not welcome here!
Malaya Movement USA denounces the recently conducted U.S. wide Philippine state sponsored Red-Tagging tour
The Marcos Jr. regime has taken their dangerous red-tagging campaign against people’s organizations overseas. The state sponsored “Special Mission Project” tour of the U.S. peddled lies to further endanger and discredit those who dare criticize the corrupt and fascist government in the Philippines.
The tour aimed to raise “awareness with our kababayans here on the real status and modus operandi of the CPP-NPA-NDF here in the US as well as in the Philippines” through meetings with Filipino community members and organizations across New York and New Jersey, Washington D.C., San Francisco, and Los Angeles. The tour also aimed to recruit individuals and organizations to “be maximized as the Philippine Government's third party force multipliers” and serve as their base of counterinsurgency operatives within the U.S. against progressive organizations and activists.
The “Special Mission Team”, composed of known peddlers of disinformation and affiliates of the NTF-ELCAC, came to the U.S. to smear and red-tag progressive individuals and organizations. These harmful acts endangers the rights and safety of human rights defenders, shown time and time again through the imprisonment, harassment, and killings of activists in the Philippines. These red-taggers are Jeffrey “Ka Eric” Celiz of SAMBAYANAN, Relissa Lucena of Yakap ng mga Magulang, and Anna Crisostomo of Mindanao Indigenous People’s Youth Organization. Lucena’s own daughter, youth and student organizer Alicia Lucena, called her mother an abuser after Lucena abducted her and detained her against her will in 2021 to prevent her from participating in activism.
The tour was supported by the Philippine Embassy under Marcos’ cousin, Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI), and pro-Marcos and community groups such as UNITEAM, United Federation of Fil-Am Educators (UNIFFIED), US Pinoys for Real Change in the Philippines (USPRCP), Bagong Pilipinas New York, RGI Alakdan, Nagkakaisang Samahang Filipino, and more.
This red tagging tour was given prime coverage by SMNI, Apollo Quiboloy’s network. Quiboloy, a staunch Marcos Jr. and Duterte supporter, is on the FBI’s most wanted for sex-trafficking, conspiracy and bulk cash smuggling in the U.S. His network has been widely criticized for spreading disinformation and being a platform for red-taggers, like former undersecretary, Lorraine Badoy. Badoy has been the subject of many legal actions for endangering the lives of activists and threatening to kill a Manila-based judge.
It is not surprising that the Marcos Jr. regime would administer such a tour, as a response to the daily protests by New York Filipino-Americans and hundreds others across the nation during his visit to the U.S. for the UN General Assembly. His predecessor, Pres. Rodrigo Duterte, used the same tactic in 2019 when he sent a delegation of state agents, including paramilitary who have accusations against them of crimes against humanity, to tour the U.S. to disparage the work of people’s organizations here and in the Philippines.
Equally disturbing is the fact the U.S. gave permission to a foreign military operation to conduct a tour specifically meant to undermine democracy and sow mistruths that demonstrably endanger the safety of people who practice their freedom of protest. By allowing this to happen, the U.S. government is excluding Americans of Filipino heritage under its protection and promise to “promote accountability for governments that abuse human rights.”
Extra-territorial acts of violence aren’t new to the Marcoses either, ever since Marcos Sr. was found guilty by the U.S. of ordering the murder of union leaders and activists Gene Viernes and Silme Domingo in the 1980s. Recently, we’ve seen the collaboration between Philippine government officials and U.S. state forces in the violent arrests of the ‘Makibeki NYC 3,’ three New York residents who protested Marcos Jr.’s September visit.
As part of the growing anti-dictatorship movement in the U.S., we have been immersed in the same communities that the Marcos’ state forces are targeting with their disinformation tour. It is imperative that we continue to build genuine relationships with our kababayan and provide the true safety net of a strong and united community against these fear tactics.
Malaya Movement USA condemns this anti-democratic tour and calls on all of our members to expose this insidious move by the Marcos-Duterte regime. Activism is not terrorism! Abolish NTF-ELCAC! Resist state repression and reject fascism! Reject the Marcos-Duterte regime!
