The Union of Journalists of the Philippines – UP firmly denounces the unjust red-tagging and disinformation trail by the Facebook pages “UPLB Perspective Exposed” and “UPLB Perspective True Colors” against UPLB Perspective, the official student publication of the University of the Philippines Los Baños. 

In a series of posts, the pages claimed that UPLB Perspective is actively recruiting members for and under the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA). They also repeatedly labelled the publication’s staff members as “communists” and “recruiters” in various posts.

In June 2026, UPLB Perspective Exposed was flagged by the Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) as being part of a network involved in red-tagging and slander against progressive groups since its creation in early 2026. “This network specializes in red-tagging and counter-messaging against the CPP-NPA-NDF and perceived sympathizers, each branded to a target community,” stated DFRLab. 

The Supreme Court stated in a landmark 2024 ruling that red-tagging is a threat to a person’s life, liberty and security. This was made in protection of activists facing red-tagging claims from state forces. Despite this ruling, online attackers hiding under anonymous Facebook accounts and pages continue to perpetrate this punishable offense without remorse.

The plethora of edited and AI-generated posts by these Facebook pages only aim to do one thing: delegitimize the integrity of a campus publication that is always at the forefront of fearless Southern Tagalog news reportage.

Without the proper laws to protect campus journalists, such as the still pending Campus Press Freedom Bill, this culture of harassment and attacks against campus journalists will persist. 

The Union thus calls on the government to reassess their priorities and provide concrete action to protect campus journalists in the country.

At the same time, the Union calls for stricter measures against accounts and pages that perpetrate false narratives that inflict fear and malign campus journalists. The fearless line of our campus journalists should not be subject to public defamation, delegitimization and demonization with unverified claims.

The Union of Journalists of the Philippines – UP stands in solidarity with UPLB Perspective and all campus publications throughout the country for calls to end the red-tagging against journalists.