A PHILIPPINE court has dismissed a government petition to declare the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed guerilla wing a terrorist organisation, a decision that officials vowed to appeal but was welcomed by activists who have long rejected the labelling of rebels as terrorists.

Manila regional trial court Judge Marlo Magdoza-Malagar’s ruling, signed Wednesday, is a legal victory for activists and government critics and a setback for government officials, who have long accused left-wing organisations of covertly serving as legal fronts for the Maoist guerillas.

The court asked the government to fight the communist insurgency, one of Asia’s longest, with “respect for the right to dissent, to due process and to the rule of law.”

It raised concerns over “red-tagging,” or linking activists to insurgents, which it said was a “pernicious practice” that endangers government critics.

“While both rebellion and terrorism may involve the use of violence, the violence in rebellion is directed against government or any part thereof,” the court said in the 135-page decision.

“Rebels in a rebellion always target agents of the state, such as the military or the police.

“Terrorism, on the other hand, is directed against the civilian population with the intent to cause the latter extraordinary and widespread fear and panic,” the court said.

Renato Reyes of Bayan, an alliance of left-wing groups, said: “Labelling revolutionaries and those engaged in peace negotiations as ‘terrorists’ is wrong, counterproductive and undermines any possibility of a political settlement in the armed conflict.”

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said the government would appeal.

The court assessed nine separate deadly attacks and acts of violence, including the burning of a chapel and rural houses in a province, which government witnesses said were carried out by communist guerillas in the country’s south from 2019 to 2020.

But it questioned the witnesses’ identification of the attackers as rebels based on their black combat uniforms and firearms.

The court also said that any fear the attacks may have been confined to the communities where they occurred and did not reach the “widespread” and “extraordinary” panic of a terrorist strike described under Philippine law.

“The nine incidents of atrocities fall within the category of small-time ‘hit-and-run’ attacks and sporadic acts of violence with no specified victims or targets,” the court said.

It said authorities failed to establish that the attacks were committed to coerce the government to give in to a demand, a key element of terrorism as specified in the law.

The Maoist rebel force was established in 1969 with only about 60 armed fighters in the country’s northern region but it gradually grew and spread across the country.

Battle setbacks, surrenders and infighting, however, have weakened the guerilla group.

The conflict has left about 40,000 combatants and civilians dead.