Elago sues NTF-ELCAC officials for grave misconduct, malfeasance over red-tagging

Kabataan party-list Representative Sarah Elago has sued National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and other Cabinet officials led by National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon and Major General Antonio Parlade, Jr. for grave misconduct and malfeasance over these officials’ tagging of Elago as a communist, if not a terrorist.

In a complaint filed before the Office of the Ombudsman on Monday, Elago said that Esperon, Parlade, NTF-ELCAC Strategic Communications Cluster spokesperson Lorraine Badoy, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) director general Alex Paul Monteagudo, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, and Interior Chief Eduardo Año—as members of NTF-ELCAC—have been using the task force's resources to maliciously attack and malign progressive individuals and groups, including the youth, through various platforms, including, but not limited to, social media posts and articles on the internet.

“Between May 2020 and the present, respondents commonly peddled false news and other disinformation against my person, and have harassed and attacked not only me but those whom I represent. With the passage of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, the attacks against dissenters and those tagged as 'communists' have become even fiercer,” Elago said.

“Red-tagging upon my person and my party are rife with falsehoods, and are malicious and misleading. They are done in bad faith and in direct affront to professionalism and political neutrality, in violation of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, or Republic Act No. 6713,” she added.

Elago said that the NTF-ELCAC’s Facebook page and the abovementioned officials have been a primary source of these attacks of red-tagging, such as calling the Makabayan bloc to which Elago belongs "Kamatayan (Death) bloc" and tagging Elago as a communist member with a decrepit and violent agenda and a part of  a terrorist organization.

In closing, Elago said that these officials’ actions is contrary to NTF-ELCAC’s mandate, which is to fight communism through “prioritizing and harmonizing the delivery of basic services and social development packages by the government.”

“Contrary to achieving this goal, the NTF-ELCAC bases much of its allegations on arbitrary proclamations of individuals. With its multi billion-peso budget, it is concerning that the NTF-ELCAC is using its funds to red-tag individuals instead of assisting in the delivery of basic services to those who need it most,” she said.

“With a budget of over P16 billion for 2020 and a proposed budget of P19 billion for 2021, the NTF-ELCAC has a tremendous opportunity to instead use the funds for those who need it most, including providing for our essential workers amid the pandemic and in the wake of the successive typhoons that ravaged the country in the past month,” Elago added. — BM, GMA News