If Malacanang is serious in sweeping away the bloody mess created by Rodrigo Duterte (including the unnecessary jeepney modernization program that benefits his Chinese allies), then it should not waste time in dismantling the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), which has been at the forefront of the whole-of-nation approach in government’s counter-insurgency campaign.
NTF-ELCAC was created by Executive Order No. 70 in 2018, and an executive order can excise it from the already-bloated bureaucracy and save the nation billions of pesos that can be plowed into more meaningful programs. Indeed, this task force institutionalized the whole-of-nation approach copied from the US Counter-insurgency (Coin) Guide that would cut corners, treat human rights like a rag, and compel local government units (LGUs) to join in counter-insurgency operations. In 2018, red-tagging became rampant as suspected “communists” and activists, human rights advocates, union leaders, lawyers and even journalists were denounced in tarpaulins, streamers and leaflets scattered in urban centers and towns.
When President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. defended the NTF-ELCAC and said the task force was not engaged in red-tagging, Malacanang must have been out of whack. The task force was the answer to what the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) said was government’s “losing the propaganda war” and it was established precisely to strengthen the campaign against the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the New People’s Army (NPA) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDF) by appropriating billions of pesos from practically all departments and the LGUs to finance the campaign.
Thus, the NTF-ELCAC slashes the appropriations that should go direct to barangays, municipalities and cities and transfers the same to the task force, which has now grown to be an inquisitor that finds insurgents in schools, churches, non-government organizations (NGOs) and even in LGUs, particularly where activists or former activists were elected. Marcos Jr. should be aware that the NTF-ELCAC has covert operatives and they are the ones that collaborate with the military and police to vilify and harass their targets. Combined police and military operations and NTF-ELCAC guidance, hundreds have been killed in the Visayas, Bicol and Mindanao.
For this reason, targeted personalities sued before the Supreme Court (SC) to end the abuses of NTF-ELCAC and collaborating police and military units. In response to the plea, the SC declared that red-tagging, vilification, labeling, and guilt by association are threats to an individual’s right to life, freedom, and security. In GR No. 254753, High Court ruled: “Inherent in the practice of red-baiting is the use of threats and intimidation to discourage ‘subversive’ activities…It is at this phase where the petitioner is at risk of enforced disappearance or extrajudicial killing when the writ of amparo becomes necessary. Quite like the development of the Rule on Amparo, the damages inflicted by red-baiting evolve too: They start from the psychological before they turn physical.”
For years, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) has documented cases of red-tagging, where government officials, military officers, and police have publicly labeled KMP leaders, members, and affiliates as “communist terrorists” or “terrorist supporters” without evidence. In February 2024, Irene Khan, UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Opinion urged the Marcos Jr. government to issue an executive order prohibiting red-tagging and to do away with the NTF-ELCAC. In November 2023, UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in the Context of Climate Change Ian Fry also called for the disbandment of the NTF-ELCAC, saying that it is red-tagging people and operating with impunity, Karapatan said. Fry interviewed environmental activists Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano who went off-script during a press conference organized by the NTF-ELCAC and divulged that they had actually been abducted by the military. The NTF-ELCAC had planned on presenting them as surrenderees.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) also called for NTF-ELCAC to be dismantled. At least one journalist, Frenchie Mae Cumpio, has been in police detention for more than four years after she was red-tagged. “Many journalists have also been subjected to government red-tagging, the practice of accusing them of being members or sympathizers of the communist insurgency. Being red-tagged can lead to threats, unlawful surveillance, harassment and even death,” HRW’S Carlos Conde also argued.
On May 14, the Kalipunan ang Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (Katribu) reiterated its demand for the government to drop the fabricated charges against Dumagat political detainees Rocky Torres and Avelardo “Dandoy” Avellaneda who have been in prison for the past six years. Torres and his uncle, Dandoy Avellaneda, are Dumagat farmers from Barangay Umiray, Gen. Nakar, Quezon. They were illegally arrested and detained by the military, which accused them of being New People’s Army (NPA) members. Both men were tortured and coerced into admitting they were NPA guerrillas and were charged with murder and illegal possession of firearms and explosives.
