The Kordilyera Media-Citizen Council (KMCC) in a statement, slammed SMNI network hosts Jeffrey Celis and Lorraine Badoy, along with Yna Mortel and Franco Baranda, over red-tagging Baguio-based journalists, June 1.

 

In Laban Kasama ang Bayan, a program under Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI), posted in YouTube on May 25, they labeled Harley Palangchao, Frank Cimatu, and Luchi Maranan as members of the of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA).

 

The hosts labeled the said journalists among the “urban operatives and networks” of the CPP-NPA. Cimatu and Polangchao were also accused of planning to raise funds for the communist rebels when they attended a conference in Thailand. 

 

The accusation was based on a picture posted in Facebook during a dinner hosted by a non-government organization in Thailand.

 

According to the KMCC, Cimatu and Polangchao represented their media outfits, Baguio Chronicle and Baguio Midland Courier, respectively, in a disinformation hackathon. The conference was also attended by Southeast Asian journalists and media practitioners.

 

The KMCC clarified that Cimatu and Polangchao were not in “the same conference as the other parties appearing in the photograph presented in the said show.” 

 

Other individuals who were identified and red-tagged were Minnie Degawan, Beverly Longid and Joan Carling of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance and Katribu.

 

Meanwhile, the KMCC urged legislators to “penalize this cowardly act” and demanded the SMNI to stop “its malicious attacks against journalists and human rights defenders.”

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— Jerson Kent Danao