[PODCAST] Law of Duterte Land: How to legally fight red-tagging

The Duterte government has sparked a new legal offensive against red-tagging, pushing lawyers to be more creative with their suits as there is no law that criminalizes red-tagging.

The Senate hearings are discussing legislation that would make red-tagging a crime, but there are concerns about its impact on freedom of speech.

Red-tagging is linking legitimate progressive groups to the communist movement, either the leadership of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) or its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA).

Since the anti-subversion law was repealed in 1992, being a communist has ceased to be a crime.

In this episode, we talk to human rights lawyer Chel Diokno of the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) about the laws that can be invoked by anyone who is red-tagged.

Listen to past episodes:

• Episode 1 Part 1: Supreme Court’s most controversial decisions
• Episode 1 Part 2: Department of Justice’s evolving definition of warrantless arrests
• Episode 2: The rule of law in the time of the coronavirus
• Episode 3: Pandemic and the great wall of free speech
• Episode 4: Will petition to disclose Duterte health work?
• Episode 5: Legal difficulties of a prisoner mass release
• Episode 6: Breaking down the ABS-CBN franchise legal and political issues
• Episode 7: ABS-CBN and the 3 tangled branches of government
• Episode 8: Are extraordinary writs still effective in the time of Duterte?
• Episode 9: Dissecting anti-terror bill and threats to freedoms
• Episode 10: The problems with the Cybercrime Law
• Episode 11: Can we trust the gov’t panel probing drug war deaths?
• Episode 12: Why press freedom is legally protected
• Episode 13: What is People’s Initiative and will it work for ABS-CBN?
• Episode 14: The new push for death penalty
• Episode 15: A State of terror
• Episode 16: GCTA’s thorn – Do bad men deserve good things?
• Episode 17: Policies beyond body count of Duterte’s drug war
• Episode 18: Can we really bring Xi Jinping to the ICC?
• Episode 19: Philippine courts and the death of baby River
• Episode 20: Deep dive into anti-terror law IRR
• Episode 21: Supreme Court and the SALN challenge
• Episode 22: Where PH stands in fight for climate justice

If you have tips and suggestions for episodes, email the host at lian.buan@rappler.com. – Rappler.com