Palace says no overall plan of red-tagging
Malacanang said on Monday the government has no overall communication plan on red-tagging after the Armed Forces of the Philippines posted on its social media accounts names of graduates of the University of the Philippines who were allegedly members of the communist New People's Army.
In a televised press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has apologized for the mistakes.
"Let's leave it at that. But there is no overall communication plan on red-tagging," he said.
The AFP, on its Facebook and Twitter accounts, came out with the list of students who allegedly joined the NPA afterwhich they died or were captured.
Following criticisms, especially after some of the names included were not confirmed as NPA rebels, such as lawyer Raffy Aquino, a member of the Free Legal Assistance Group, the posts were taken down.
Lorenzana and the AFP apologized.
While Roque said he could not speak for the military since he is the spokesman of President Rodrigo Duterte, he advised the AFP to be more prudent.
"So, I can only suggest that they be more prudent so that our Secretary of National Defense won't apologize anymore," he said. Celerina Monte/DMS
