The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) has voiced strong opposition against the Philippine military’s alleged harassment and red-tagging of Jeverlyn Seguin.
Seguin is a peasant rights advocate in Cavite province, who serves as the deputy General Secretary of the peasant organization KASAMA–TK. She has reportedly been targeted by the military as part of an anti-insurgency campaign.
According to reports from KASAMA–TK, members of the 2nd Infantry Division’s Task Force Ugnay have been visiting local residents since March, disseminating photographs of Seguin and accusing her of affiliations with the New People’s Army (NPA).
Peter Murphy, chairperson of the ICHRP, said, “The harassment and terror-tagging of legal-democratic activists like Ms. Seguin represent a concerning escalation in the suppression of dissent under the current Philippine administration.”
Murphy said such tactics are not only oppressive but also blur the distinctions between combatants and non-combatants in the ongoing conflict in the country.
Prior to this incident, Seguin was involved in launching a campaign aimed at documenting the adverse impacts of the El Niño weather phenomenon on local farmers, an initiative critical for advocating the rights and welfare of agricultural communities in Southern Tagalog.
The recent increase in military activities targeting civilians has been linked to a Facebook post by the Office of the President, which purportedly supports the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) in red-tagging various peasant groups as communist sympathizers.
Murphy further criticized the Philippine military’s broader counter-insurgency strategy, which allegedly includes indiscriminate bombings and human rights abuses against civilian populations.
He called on the Marcos Jr. administration to cease its policy of red-tagging and urged the resumption of peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines to address the root causes of the ongoing armed conflict.
The ICHRP has reiterated its condemnation of all forms of International Humanitarian Law violations by the Armed Forces of the Philippines and is advocating for the protection of non-combatant rights in conflict zones throughout the country.
