BY NEIL RAMOS
Some people aren’t happy with Liza Soberano stepping out of her comfort zone to participate in an online seminar organized by the youth arm of women’s rights group Gabriela.
They insist that by doing so, the winsome actress, known mostly for starring in harmless romantic TV shows, is now a bonafide communist.
A certain vlogger even castigated Soberano for speaking against the continued abuse of women in today’s society at the seminar, something that she personally experienced recently with a netizen openly wishing that she be raped after she voiced out a complaint about her internet connection being slow.
“I was afraid that people would judge me. They would say what do I know, I’m just a girl, I’m just an actress,” Soberano said in the seminar, explaining why she was previously hesitant to speak up on issues.
The vlogger said: “Yes, tama. Ganon, intindihin mo na lang ang trabaho mo. Pero sige, kalayaan mo ‘yan pero make sure lang na knowledgeable ka sa mga bagay-bagay.”
“Eh ngayon mukhang wala kang alam na ‘yung Gabriela ay salot sa lipunan, miyembro ng mga terorista at komunista, rebelde, NPA, front ng NPA. At wala kang ka ide-ideya. E kung ganyan na wala kang kaalam alam Liza, e manahimik ka.”
The vlogger’s video has since garnered over 5,000 views as of this writing.
Many of those who saw the video came to the defense of Soberano.
“Red-tagging is criminal,” said one.
“Let’s wait and see when she sues you for cyber libel. This is definitely red-tagging,” another said.
Note VERA Files, a non-profit media organization that probes into current issues and fact-checks false and misleading claims, defined red-tagging in an article as “the harassment or persecution of a person because of ‘known or suspected communist sympathies.’”
It also cited a definition adopted by Supreme Court Associate Justice Marvic Leonen in the 2015 court case Zarate vs Aquino III that defined red-tagging as “the act of labeling, branding, naming, and accusing individuals and/or organizations of being left-leaning, subversives, communists or terrorists used as a strategy… by State agents, particularly law enforcement agencies and the military, against those perceived to be ‘threats’ or ‘enemies of the state.’”
The Commission on Human Rights, on the other hand, uses the definition of International Peace Observers Network (IPON) in explaining red-tagging saying it is “an act of State actors, particularly law enforcement agencies, to publicly brand individuals, groups or institutions as… affiliated to communist or leftist terrorists.”
