MANILA - A United Nations expert urged the Philippines on Friday to abolish an anti-communism task force whose actions suppress the freedom of expression of activists.
The task force has been accused of “red-tagging” — the practice of accusing government critics of being rebel sympathisers as a pretext to silence, arrest or even kill them.
The practice suppresses legal activism and freedom of expression, said Irene Khan, the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression and opinion.
She made the comments at a news conference held to discuss her findings after spending almost two weeks in the country to assess the state of free speech and media rights.
Ms Khan said the possible restart of peace talks had made the existence of the five-decade-old anti-communism task force “outdated”. A UN special rapporteur who visited Manila last year had a similar recommendation.
Jonathan Malaya, the national security council spokesperson, told a separate briefing that legal remedies are in place for victims and that the government does not condone the practice.
The task force would “transition to a different body”, given the weakening communist insurgency, Malaya said.
Ms Khan also described the murder of journalists as the “most egregious form of censorship”.
“The Philippines remains a dangerous country for journalists,” she said, adding “much more needs to be done to attack impunity”.
Citing data provided by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), she said 81 cases of journalist killings have not been prosecuted or investigated. Since Ferdinand Marcos Jr took over as president in 2022, at least four journalists have been killed.
The Philippines is ranked 132nd out of 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index.