Caritas Philippines, the social action arm of the Catholic Church, said it will sit down with the military to discuss the country’s human rights situation, including the red-tagging of activists.
Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo, national director of Caritas Philippines, said the prevailing human rights situation has compelled his office to “initiate and spearhead a dialogue.”
The prelate has expressed alarm over the government’s counterinsurgency and anti-terrorism campaigns that have “no distinction between a combatant and a non-combatant.”
“[Caritas Philippines] is calling for a meaningful dialogue that will put an end to the bloodshed, vilification, and attacks on human life and rights,” said Bishop Bagaforo.
He noted that people “are being vilified, red-tagged, harassed, intimidated, subjected to illegal surveillance, jailed, and even killed.”
In a statement, Caritas Philippines noted that organizations and individuals “are accused of being communists or terrorists because of their political and ideological beliefs.”
“It is more alarming that priests, nuns, lay missionaries, and several faith-based organizations are vilified and red-tagged because of their prophetic mandate to serve the people,” read the statement.
Rights group Karapatan has recorded at least 396 political killings from July 2016, when President Rodrigo Duterte came to power, to December 2020.
Philippine authorities have accused some Church-based organizations of supporting communist rebels.
Early this month, the Anti-Money Laundering Council ordered the suspension of the bank accounts and assets of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines’ HARAN Center in Davao City.
The center has been providing sanctuary for at least 400 displaced indigenous peoples.
Last year, the bank accounts of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines have also been suspended. Both church groups have been tagged as “above-ground communist organizations.”
