The National Security Council (NSC) rejected calls to abolish the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) following the Supreme Court’s declaration that red-tagging could justify the issuance of a writ of amparo.

In a statement released Monday, the NSC Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya said that the call of progressive groups to abolish the NTF-ELCAC had no basis.

“The NTF-ELCAC has been the game changer in the battle against the New People’s Army and their allied and front organizations. Because of the NTF ELCAC, the NPA has been strategically defeated with its last remaining nine weakened guerilla fronts with around 1,000 remaining armed members scattered in remote areas. Peace is finally within our reach.”

“The leftist groups clearly don’t want us to win against the CPP-NPA-NDF. They are anti-peace and anti-development. They clearly don’t want to see the end of the Communist insurgency in our country,” he added.

The Supreme Court said last week in an en banc decision that red-tagging threatens right to life, liberty, and security

In its ruling, it granted a writ of amparo in favor of Siegfried Deduro, an activist and former representative of Bayan Muna.

Following this resolution, several groups including Karapatan, Gabriela, Bayan Muna, and Human Rights Watch reiterated their calls to abolish the government’s insurgency task force.

Malaya stressed that the Supreme Court did not call the NTF-ELCAC a red-tagger and also cited that it was not a party to Deduro’s case.

“The Supreme Court never said that the NTF-ELCAC is a notorious red-tagger. In fact, the NTF-ELCAC is not a party to the case nor was it impleaded so why it is now being linked to this decision boggles the mind. It’s non-sequitur,” Malaya said.

“We are not making a categorical ruling on the merits of the writ of amparo. Ultimately, the RTC (regional trial court) must determine the relevance and consistency of the evidence presented by both parties,” he said.

“So clearly, the Supreme Court was merely correcting a procedural lapse on the part of the Regional Trial Court and ordered the remanding of the case to the RTC for the conduct of summary hearing. The NTF ELCAC has nothing to do with this case. Period,” he added.

He maintained that President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. would never abolish the NTF-ELCAC since he was happy with its achievements and even ordered it to implement the Amnesty Program, and increase financial support to the 846 barangays under its barangay development program.

United Nations Special Rapporteur Irene Khan in February also urged the government to abolish the task force, saying that it was “outdated” and did not take into account the peace negotations the Marcos administration was seeking with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

Jaspearl Tan/DMS