KABATAAN Partylist volunteers were reportedly heckled and harassed by a man while conducting a house-to-house campaign in Matina Aplaya on Wednesday, April 23, 2025.
According to witnesses, the man tore up campaign flyers and shouted at the volunteers during the incident.
In a statement released on the same day, Kabataan Partylist–Southern Mindanao strongly condemned the verbal harassment and red-tagging of their volunteers.
“Kabataan Partylist Southern Mindanao condemns this blatant attack and red-tagging against the youth. This violates the Comelec Resolution 11116 Section 2, which explicitly prohibits acts of vilification, labeling, or guilt by association, as grounded in the Supreme Court’s ruling in Deduro v. Vinoya.,” the group stated.
The group said that the incident highlights the real dangers of red-tagging, which they say continues to thrive under the Marcos and Duterte administrations.
They also said that if the individual genuinely wanted to understand the party list’s platform, he could have listened to the volunteers explain their advocacy for youth and social welfare. These include support for laws such as the Free College Education Law, SK Empowerment and Compensation Law, Free Public Wi-Fi Law, and the Free College Entrance Examination Law, as well as efforts to increase funding for education and basic social services.
Kabataan Partylist has also taken strong positions on national issues, calling for the abolition of confidential funds, budget transparency, environmental justice, and the dismantling of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). They continue to speak out against red-tagging.
The party called on the youth to “stand their ground, fight back, and continue the militant Filipino spirit,” underscoring the importance of youth representation in Congress to push forward a pro-people and pro-youth agenda.
Anakbayan–Southern Mindanao also condemned the harassment and red-tagging, calling it part of a broader “orchestrated propaganda campaign” against progressive groups.
“The continued use of red-tagging as a tool of intimidation reveals the active suppression of individuals advancing national democracy. Such tactics must never be normalized, as they stifle critical thinking and sow fear within communities. These actions are unacceptable and constitute a grave threat to the life, liberty, and security of individuals,” the group said.
Anakbayan reiterated its call to abolish the NTF-ELCAC, which they accused of spreading baseless propaganda, red-tagging, and labeling activists as terrorists. RGP