PRESS STATEMENT
February 23, 2025

The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) once again engages in disinformation by claiming before the 77th Session of the UN Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR) that it “champions human rights, security, and peace.” Everything it has done since its creation under Executive Order No. 70, s. 2017 has been the exact opposite.

It denies the existence of the policy of red-tagging while branding, in the same breath, indigenous Lumad schools as “recruiters” for the CPP-NPA-NDF. This statement is itself red-tagging—a baseless and dangerous labeling practice that has repeatedly led to surveillance, harassment, arbitrary arrests, and even killings. The Supreme Court, in Deduro v. Vinoya, unequivocally recognized that red-tagging constitutes a threat to life, liberty, and security, acknowledging the severe risks it poses to those falsely linked to the underground communist movement without due process. But the Philippine government continues to enable this practice, systematically using it as a pretext to attack dissenting voices and grassroots movements.

NTF-ELCAC further attempts to justify its actions by claiming that reports accusing individuals or organizations of terrorism undergo stringent validation, supposedly backed by testimonies from former rebels. However, these perjured statements have come from individuals forced into “surrenders” under duress or from professional witnesses who recycle perjured testimonies. The case of environmental rights defenders Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano, for instance, demonstrates the extent of this state deception. After being abducted by security forces in September 2023, they were falsely presented as rebel returnees, only to expose in a live press conference that they had been forcibly taken and coerced into signing fabricated confessions. Their case is not an anomaly but a glaring example of how the state manufactures evidence to justify its crackdown on civil society organizations, human rights defenders, and activists. Numerous other individuals have been abducted, tortured, and forced to claim allegiance to the CPP-NPA-NDF in staged ceremonies, often under threats to themselves and their families.

Even the existence of legal remedies such as the writs of amparo and habeas data does not always guarantee meaningful relief for victims. The pursuit of justice is often hindered by state intimidation, the immense difficulty of obtaining evidence against perpetrators, and the structural challenges of holding powerful actors to account. Not only does NTF-ELCAC continue to evade scrutiny and liability, but it has also resorted to filing retaliatory charges against those who have sought redress. Its role in political persecution, enforced disappearances, and legal harassment has been widely condemned, including by international human rights bodies and UN experts Ian Fry and Irene Khan. Yet, it remains emboldened by an administration that weaponizes counterterrorism laws to silence dissent and constrict civic space.

Stripped of its empty rhetoric, NTF-ELCAC is a state-funded machinery of repression—trading in fear, thriving on impunity, and silencing those who expose its lies. No propaganda can wash away the blood on its hands. It exists to criminalize activism, erode democratic space, and justify the persecution of those who dare to resist. The real threat is not the organizations and individuals it demonizes, but the unchecked power it wields.

The call for its abolition has never been more urgent. The Philippine government must be held accountable for its complicity in these abuses, and the international community must not fall for the whitewashing of state repression. The UN must scrutinize the Philippine government’s counterterrorism measures and demand an end to the use of anti-terror laws as a tool for political persecution. The continued funding of NTF-ELCAC must be challenged, and independent investigations into its human rights violations must be pursued. Without dismantling the very machinery that enables repression, any claim of promoting peace and security will be nothing more than a farce. #

Reference:
Atty. Josalee S. Deinla
NUPL Secretary General
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