Red-tagging vs lawyer a ‘dangerous tactic’

To vilify a lawyer for representing marginalized sectors and advocating civil liberties is an assault not only on his person but on the entire legal profession and on the people’s right to counsel.

CAGAYAN DE ORO — Several groups condemned the acts made by Antonio Parlade, a former Army official who served as spokesperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), after he made a series of lengthy Facebook posts linking human rights lawyer Antonio La Viña to revolutionary organizations.

This came after La Viña expressed support for the Talaingod 13—participants in a humanitarian mission who were convicted by a local court of child abuse, a decision later affirmed by the Court of Appeals, after the 2018 incident in Talaingod, Davao del Norte where Lumad students fled following the forced closure of Lumad schools.

In his opinion article published in Rappler, the Mindanaoan lawyer said that the state filed charges against the Talaingod 13 instead of recognizing the incident as a humanitarian response to displacement.

After Parlade’s first Facebook post marked as “Part 1” specifically against La Viña on Christmas Day, succeeding posts were expected. It currently has four parts, spreading accusations on why La Viña was so “invested” in the Communist Party of the Philippines, New People’s Army, and National Democratic Front of the Philippines (CPP-NPA-NDF).

The latest was posted on December 31, 2025. These were aside from other posts accusing other groups like the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL), Save Our Schools Network, and AlterMidy as fronts and allies of the communist movement.

The Union of Peoples Lawyers in Mindanao (UPLM) said that Parlade’s act is a “dangerous tactic,” as the Supreme Court already ruled that red-tagging threatens a person’s right to life, liberty, and security. It stressed that the High Court decision was based on the understanding of grave consequences associated with this practice of labeling.

“The Court acknowledged that labeling a person as a communist or terrorist makes them a target for vigilantes, paramilitary groups, or even state agents,” UPLM said in a statement. 

The lawyers’ group also saw Parlade’s attack as an act seeking to criminalize legal advocacy by equating the defense of human rights and clients with sympathy for the armed movement.

In March 2023, Parlade and then NTF-ELCAC official Lorraine Badoy were reprimanded by the Office of the Ombudsman for making baseless claims that NUPL and its members are part of the communist movement.

Human rights group Karapatan Southern Mindanao, in a statement, criticized Parlade for once again making accusations, now against a Mindanaoan lawyer, notwithstanding the Ombudsman decision.

“To vilify a lawyer for representing marginalized sectors and advocating civil liberties is an assault not only on his person but on the entire legal profession and on the people’s right to counsel,” said Grecian Asoy, Karapatan Southern Mindanao deputy secretary-general.

For NUPL, La Viña’s position is “clear and factual,” adding that his critique was anchored in constitutional guarantees, child-protection principles, and the Philippines’ international obligations to Indigenous Peoples.

“Parlade addressed none of these legitimate grounds for public discussion and disagreement, relying instead on guilt by association,” NUPL said in a statement, adding that Parlade’s attack rests on the dangerous assumption that equates criticism of government action with support for the CPP-NPA.

On Monday, January 5, the legal team of the Talaingod 13 filed a Motion for Reconsideration before the Court of Appeals, seeking a reversal of the ruling. (DAA)

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