MANILA — LGBT group Bahaghari denounced the red-tagging of its former leader, Eyu Delfin by alleged military personnel in Muñoz, Nueva Ecija. 

Delfin was the former chairperson of Bahaghari-Nueva Ecija and is currently a second year student at Central Luzon State University (CLSU).

The incident involved a friend of Delfin who was approached by a man in plainclothes claiming to be from the military on April 10. He asked about Delfin’s whereabouts and later hurled accusations about Delfin’s alleged involvement with underground organizations. This is not the first time Delfin has been subjected to threats and harassment. Similar incidents were recorded in November 2024 and March 2025, Bahaghari said.

“These acts of red-tagging and harassment are fabrications built on false narratives and are being used as justification to openly trample on the basic civil rights of youth and student activists like Eyu [Delfin],” Bahaghari-Nueva Ecija said in a statement.

Student organizations also expressed their solidarity with Delfin, and condemned the red-tagging incidents. CLSU Student Council said in a statement that this form of harassment is “an attack, not only on the rights of Delfin, but on the academic freedom in the university.”

“Red-tagging undermines academic freedom and the right to peaceful assembly—fundamental aspects of a democratic society. This incident is a blow to democracy, especially since it occurred within a university that should be protecting its students from repression,” the council said in a Filipino statement.

No less than the Supreme Court (SC) declared that red-tagging threatens the right to life, liberty, and security of an individual or an organization. 

Read: Progressive groups welcome SC’s ruling on red-tagging

“As being associated with communists or terrorists makes the red-tagged person a target of vigilantes, paramilitary groups, or even State agents, it is easy to understand why a person may fear that being red-tagged puts their life and security at risk,” SC said.

In a report released in October 2024 , the Amnesty International – Philippines found that the targeting of young human rights defenders — both online and offline — is deliberate and strategic. 

“Red-tagging affects young activists’ relationships, how they conduct their activism, which organizations they join, how they post online and how they move in the public sphere. Red-tagging is also deeply harming young human rights defenders’ mental health and security,” Amnesty International – Philippines said in its report.

Both local organizations and human rights groups attribute the alarming pattern of harassment experienced by Delfin and other young human rights defenders to the state agents, particularly the police, military, and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).

“The NTF-ELCAC must be immediately abolished and the militarization of the university should also be ended. It has no place in a democratic society,” said the CLSU Student Council. (RVO)