Kontra Daya condemns a notorious red-tagger’s false claim that Kontra Daya is a “project of the Communist Party of the Philippines.” The red-tagger’s allegation that Kontra Daya refuses to “[expose] the CPP for infiltrating and sabotaging the integrity of the electoral process” is grounded in a falsehood that has been refuted not only by our group but also by reputable news media organizations, the courts and even the Commission on Elections (COMELEC).
Incidentally, this red-tagger was the first nominee of a party-list group flagged twice by Kontra Daya for having dubious advocacies and having connections with the government/military. His ties with the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) is publicly known. Prior to red-tagging Kontra Daya, he has also red-tagged various personalities.
In the past, he lied about his academic credentials as he falsely claimed that he graduated from the University of the Philippines in the late 1980s. He also lied on national television when he said that Kontra Daya is accredited by the COMELEC. This makes his demand that our COMELEC accreditation be withdrawn totally pointless and laughable. More important than improving his grammar, he should be reminded of the basics of research.
Given his propensity for weaving a web of lies, it comes as no surprise that the NTF-ELCAC finds him useful for red-tagging which is considered the highest form of “fake news” as it can get a person arrested, tortured or even killed.
We commend various news media organizations for not giving any space to his false claims against Kontra Daya. However, we should call out the Philippine News Agency (PNA) for accepting his lies hook, line and sinker in two articles uploaded on May 16 and 18. The PNA’s editorial decision proves how government media conveniently ignore the highest standards of journalism.
Even at the risk of stating the obvious, Kontra Daya is not a CPP project. Formed in 2007 after the “Hello Garci” electoral fraud controversy under former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Kontra Daya is a non-partisan election watchdog that focuses on the vulnerabilities of the electoral process and exposes corruption and electoral fraud.
As it becomes clearer that the 2022 elections are the worst since the start of automated elections in 2010, red-tagging has become a desperate move to discredit our work, particularly our research during the campaign period and monitoring on election day. To make things worse, the state is using government resources like government media to amplify lies of a red-tagger with questionable credibility.
In verified reports to Kontra Daya by concerned individuals from all over the country and other volunteer groups from different regions during election day, VCM errors and malfunctions alone showed an 800% increase compared to the 2019 elections. Even before election day, Kontra Daya has actively called out illegal activities, including misuse and abuse of government resources in campaigning for particular candidates.
Kontra Daya sees the recent red-tagging spree as a systematic campaign of violence. We shall continue our work even if the threats are real, especially in a regime which perpetuates tyranny and impunity.
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