ALARMED by the rising cases of red-tagging, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon proposed a measure that will make red-tagging punishable by up to 10 years in prison and disqualify persons convicted of red-tagging from holding public office.

Senate Bill 2121 or the proposed Act Defining and Penalizing Red-Tagging seeks to make red-tagging a crime.

The bill defines red-tagging as the act of labeling, vilifying, branding, naming, accusing, harassing, persecuting, stereotyping or caricaturing individuals, groups or organizations as state enemies, left-leaning, subversives, communists or terrorists as part of a counter-insurgency or anti-terrorism strategy or program, by any state actor, such as law enforcement agent, paramilitary or military personnel.

“Any person found guilty of red-tagging shall be imprisoned for 10 years and shall suffer the accessory penalty of perpetual absolute disqualification to hold public office,” the bill stated.

“The passage of this bill will reverse the ‘increasingly institutionalization and normalization of human rights violations’ and put a stop on the attacks against the members of the legal profession,” Drilon said in his explanatory note.

The former justice secretary said libel, or grave threats, is not appropriate where a state agent vilifies a person as an enemy of the state thereby impinging on the rights of that individual.

“The measure will likewise serve as a reminder to the government of its primary duty under the Constitution to serve and protect the people,” he stressed.

Drilon lamented how the continuing governmental public branding has threatened the life, liberty and security of the vilified men and women.

“It has resulted in serious human rights violations such as harassments, arbitrary arrests, detentions, and enforced disappearances,” he said. “In some instances, being red-tagged is a prelude to death.”

Meanwhile, Kabataan Partylist Rep. Sarah Jane Elago expressed support to the bill.