Former Rebels Push Back After PIA JournTalk Controversy in Western Visayas

A controversy over alleged red-tagging at a Philippine Information Agency (PIA) Western Visayas forum has reopened a larger discussion over how institutions should treat the testimonies of former rebels who publicly identify the organizations and processes they say preceded their recruitment into the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA).

The controversy began during PIA Western Visayas’ Journ Talk Series 2026 for campus journalists on September 24.

Following the event, the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP)-Panay subsequently accused Sabado of "red-tagging." According to a report from the CPP’s Ang Bayan Ngayon carrying CEGP-Panay’s account, Sabado discussed CEGP, the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) and other organizations in relation to communist recruitment, and allegedly made claims concerning influence over student councils and campus publications. CEGP rejected the assertions as malicious and baseless and questioned why PIA allowed such a presentation.

According to PIA’s subsequent clarification, an Army officer from 301st Infantry Brigade was scheduled to repeat a presentation previously delivered during the series’ High School Edition. The Army officer was introduced during the program but, “at the last minute, he designated Mr. Rey Christian Sabado to deliver the talk…”

PIA said Sabado “deviated from the original presentation.”

PIA also expressed “regret" over what it called an “unfortunate incident.” It said it was coordinating with the Philippine Army to rectify the situation and prevent a recurrence, while stressing its decades-long support for campus journalism.

Push back

On September 28, former rebels weighed in on the matter. Buklod Kapayapaan Federation Inc. (BKFI), the national federation whose membership includes former members of the CPP-NPA-NDF, defended Sabado and disputed the characterization of his presentation as red-tagging.

The federation argued that recounting one’s own path from student activism into the underground armed movement should not automatically be treated as such.

“Rey Christian Sabado did not accuse, label, or single out anyone,” BKFI said. “He shared his own story: his direct knowledge and lived experience.”

The federation said Sabado had been involved with Anakbayan and NUSP before eventually joining the NPA. It argued that campus journalists should also be allowed to hear the experiences of young people who say their involvement in the student movement eventually led them into armed struggle.

BKFI challenged CEGP to examine the accounts of former rebels rather than dismiss them outright. Its members, the federation said, speak from their own experiences inside the CPP-NPA-NDF when they discuss what they describe as relationships between legal national-democratic organizations and the underground movement.

Good call

That incident resonated with “Trisha,” a former rebel who was also involved in campus journalism and CEGP before eventually joining the NPA. From her perspective, the 301st Infantry Brigade’s decision to defer to Sabado was actually a “good call.”

“Between a soldier and a former rebel, who has the bigger credibility to speak when it comes to recruitment into the underground CPP-NPA which starts in membership to national democratic organizations?” she said.

What Trisha found more striking was what came afterward, where the PIA appeared to distance itself from Sabado’s presentation by stressing that he had departed from the presentation originally expected from Lagaña.

For Trisha, the episode illustrated a continuing problem even within the government, where the perspectives and lived experiences of former rebels have yet to find a secure place in public discussions about radicalization, recruitment and armed struggle, particularly when their accounts challenge organizations and narratives operating openly in democratic spaces.

That is where, she said, the controversy becomes larger than one webinar, considering that it comes following the death of Rocha Mae Bihag, a former campus journalist and activist who later joined the NPA, and controversy surrounding remarks by Anakbayan leader Mhing Gomez during the September 21 protest, where he invoked young activists who died after joining the armed movement and called on others to follow their example.

These cases sharpen the same underlying disagreement. National democratic organizations have repeatedly objected when they are associated with communist recruitment, describing such allegations as red-tagging.

Former rebels, meanwhile, argue that their personal trajectories—from legal national democratic organizations and campus activism into the underground movement—are themselves part of the evidence that deserves examination rather than automatic dismissal.

BKFI consequently framed the dispute not simply as a defense of Sabado, but as a defense of the right of former rebels to publicly recount those experiences.

“We stand with Rey Christian Sabado, and with every former rebel who dares to speak the truth,” the federation said.

A given

Trisha said former rebels already expect their testimonies to be challenged, dismissed as red-tagging, or portrayed as statements made at the behest of the military or government.

For her, that reaction is already a given. The more consequential question is what institutions themselves do when confronted with those accounts.

“What matters now is whether the government will choose to support our testimonies and that of our families in terms of unmasking what we experienced as recruitment mechanisms of the CPP-NPA,” she said. “Or will they continue to sit on the fence whenever those testimonies become controversial?”

The September 24 incident therefore leaves a question extending well beyond PIA’s clarification, CEGP’s accusation or Sabado’s testimony. How should government institutions handle the revelations of former CPP-NPA members who reveal they were recruited through national democratic organizations, as they exercise their right to freedom of expression and participation in public discourse, amid accusations of "red-tagging"?