Stop Red-tagging publishing houses

The Manila Critics Circle, in no uncertain terms, condemns the Red-tagging of the respected publisher Adarna House by the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (Nica) and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac).

Not only is Adarna House an award-winning publisher known to produce only quality material, it is also a publisher devoted to the truth. It is a disservice to our young readers to assume that they should be exempted from learning about important events in Philippine history like the imposition of martial law. The truth does not "plant hate and lies in the tender hearts of our children," as Lorraine Badoy, spokesperson for NTF-Elcac, has said. The truth does not "subtly radicalize" as Alex Paul Monteagudo, the director-general of Nica, has stated. Monteagudo said that the very issue of presenting martial law in children's books plants dissent and hatred in their minds. Martial law is part of our history, as are its victims. Like all true things, it is something they should learn from books and make up their own minds about.

Furthermore, Adarna House is an innovative, privately owned, educational publisher that should be encouraged to continue publishing such excellent material and commended for its devotion to telling the Philippine story to young children.

Let the truth be told. Let the publishers publish.

The Manila Critics Circle