PCOO grilled on red-tagging problems

 From the Manila Standard (Oct 13, 2020): PCOO grilled on red-tagging problems (By Macon Ramos-Araneta)

Senator Aquilino Pimentel on Tuesday pressed Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar if the agency had ever been involved in red-tagging which, he said, amounted to propaganda.

“Has this been resolved? Because there is still a problem in the House. Does this mean you have a big obstacle still to surmount in the House of Representatives?” Pimentel said.

On whether the PCOO was red-tagging people, Andanar responded: “This was already resolved based on his conversations with the congressmen at the House.”

During a virtual hearing of the proposed PCOO’s P1.58- billion budget for next year, Andanar said the PCOO as an institution had never red-tagged anybody.

“The PCOO as an institution has never red-tagged any individual of this Republic,” Andanar said.

This was amid criticism that PCOO Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy had caused a drawback in the deliberation of the agency’s budget at the House of Representatives due to her supposed red-tagging activities.

In September, the House deliberations on the proposed PCOO budget were suspended “until further notice” as the lawmakers denounced the supposed red-tagging activities of the PCCO.

Andanar said the senators could check with their PTV broadcasts, Radyo Pilipinas and the Philippine Information Agency.

“Even the Philippine News Agency never red-tagged anybody,” he said.

The Makabayan bloc, whose members were tagged by Badoy as “high-ranking officials of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front,” also called for the PCOO official’s resignation.

Senator Richard Gordon, who was presiding over the hearing, said the country needed a reliable and credible state media.

Gordon said the PCOO, as the media arm of the government, should be able to “maintain a high standard of media information and education but certainly not propaganda.”

Badoy told Gordon that “just in case red-tagging is brought up, I’d like to inform you that we were actually brought to court by the NUJP, Gabriela, Rural Missionaries and up to the Supreme Court, the ruling was that the threat is not real, and it is based on amorphous grounds.

And that it was found that the ruling of the Supreme Court is that membership into organizations red-tagged is not an actionable threat, and it was dismissed for lack of evidence.”

At this juncture, Gordon asked Badoy to submit to the committee the ruling of the Supreme Court.

Badoy also noted red-tagging was actually a word that the CPP-NPA-NDF coined. It was not a real word.

Senator Bong Go said in these times of uncertainty brought about by the pandemic, information was our best weapon against fear-mongering and public anxiety.

“It is for this reason that the role of the PCOO—as the lead communications arm of the government—is very crucial, now more than ever”

Through the PCOO, he guaranteed that they were able to inform, educate and enlighten the Filipino citizenry about matters of national importance, empowering them to deepen their civic engagement.

“But let me also say that even before the pandemic, the PCOO had played an important role in this administration. When I was still the Special Assistant to the President, Secretary Martin Andanar would share with me his plans for the communication agencies of the national government. And I can say that slowly but surely, those plans are coming to fruition,” Go said.

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