Rights group slams redtagging vs Ilocos activists, renews call for abolition of NTF-ELCAC
KARAPATAN Public Information
PRESS RELEASE
5 May 2026
Reference: Atty. VJ Topacio, Hustisya National Board member
Rights group slams redtagging vs Ilocos activists, renews call for abolition of NTF-ELCAC
HUSTISYA (Victims United for Justice) renewed calls for the abolition of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) in light of the latest spate of harassment and red-tagging against officers of the La Union Peace and Justice Advocates (LUPJA) as well as four other activists and development workers in the Ilocos region.
Flyers were reportedly spotted in Santa, Ilocos Sur on April 24, 2026 red-tagging HUSTISYA national board member Angelica Galimba, LUPJA secretary general Niño Oconer,LUPJA treasurer and Clio Rojas of Defend Ilocos Sur, Joseph Padama of Isnag-Yapayao-Masamuyao Tribal Council of Ilocos Norte and Renz Kang, executive director of Ilocos Center for Research, Empowerment and Development (ICRED) as well as ICRED former staff Marissa Pugyao.
The red-tagging flyers were issued by TABAKO (Tagapagtanggol ng Bayan Laban sa Komunismo), an organization formed in 2019 that consists of police and military elements in the region. It is notorious for putting up red-tagging posters and streamers made of nylon sacks in public places. In November 2025, it infamously red-tagged and intimidated persons who wanted to join the massive anti-corruption protests.
Youth leader Angel Galimba had been subjected to intense surveillance and harassment by police elements in 2022 while Oconer and six other activists were slapped with trumped-up rebellion charges in 2023. The charges were later dismissed at the fiscal level for lack of probable cause.
Such continuing harassment and red-tagging against Galimba, Oconer and other Ilocos-based activists pose serious threats to their lives, liberty and security and must be stopped.
HUSTISYA calls on the Commission on Human Rights to investigate the police and military in the region for threatening, harassing, intimidating and red-tagging Ilocos-based activists and urges the passage of local ordinances to protect human rights defenders.
HUSTISYA will continue to stand with the activists and human rights defenders of Ilocos region in their continuing fight against relentless human rights violations and their quest for accountability.
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