On August 29, 2024, five United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteurs issued a public letter condemning the Philippine government’s alleged abuse of laws to combat money-laundering and terrorism financing against 27 former and active members of the non-governmental organization (NGO) Community Empowerment Resource Network (CERNET). The independent experts described the allegations as a “deliberate misapplication” of existing legislation and warned of the far-reaching consequences for the work of the organizations.
The charges against CERNET, which were brought in September 2023 and May 2024, include allegations of terrorist financing and already resulted in the organization’s bank account being frozen. According to the UN experts, this measure has a significant impact on the target groups that CERNET supports through poverty reduction programs. Of concern are also so-called “red-tagging” attacks (i.e. branding individuals or organizations as “terrorist”), which, according to the letter, occurred in the course of the indictment and endangered the personal safety of individuals of the affected ones.
In another statement at the beginning of November, Cordillera Disaster Response and Development Services (CDPC), a partner organization of CERNET, expressed concern about the hostility towards aid workers. The organization explained that the accusations and “red-tagging” not only made the work of humanitarian organizations more difficult, but also systematically aimed to undermine the legitimacy of their work.
In a similar demand, the NGO Katinnulong Dagiti Umili iti Amianan (KADUAMI) called on the Philippine government on November 25, 2024, in Baguio to review the fabricated charges against activists and aid workers. In late October 2024, Petronila Guzman and Lenville Salvador, board members of KADUAMI, and Myrna Zapanta, an employee of the National Council of Churches of the Philippines (NCCP), were accused of alleged violations of the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012. KADUAMI is concerned that in order to comply with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) guidelines and to be removed from the FATF “gray list”, the Philippine government is systematically targeting NGOs that have already experienced “red-tagging” and fabricating charges of alleged terrorism financing.
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