NTF-ELCAC execs file counter affidavit against progressive groups

Several officials of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) have jointly signed and filed a counter-affidavit in response to the complaint lodged by members of the Makabayan bloc for allegedly red-tagging Vice President Leni Robredo.

In a press conference, National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr., also the NTF-ELCAC vice chairman, said the Omnibus Election Code is “not a ban on freely expressing their opinions and views.”

“The Omnibus Election Code is not a ban on public officers’ right to freely express their opinions and views neither it is a refuge to a candidate or parties and groups to be shielded from any expression or statement or action of a public officer, especially if done by them in the performance of their duty under the orders and mandate from the President of the Philippines,” he said.

Last March 25, Kabataan party-list Representative Sarah Jane Elago, Gabriela party-list Representative Arlene Brosas, ACT Teachers party-list Representative France Castro, Robert De Castro, Saturnino Ocampo, Teodoro Casiño, and Ariel Casilao lodged a complaint against NTF-ELCAC officials for alleged electioneering and other violations of the Omnibus Election Code.

The complainants said the NTF-ELCAC officials violated the Omnibus Election Code sections 261 (e), 261 (i), and 261 (o).

“An election period neither suspends the operation of the legitimate arm of the government like the NTF-ELCAC nor the government function in carrying out the whole of nation approach and the whole of government approach in combating the communist-terrorist group (CTGs) which is the CPP-NPA-NDF especially when the President Duterte himself announces that some parties have links with the CTGs,” Esperon said.

Duterte earlier renewed his attack on the left, calling on the public not to vote for the Makabayan party-list groups which he said are “legal fronts of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).”

He identified the party-list groups as Kabataan, Anakpawis, Bayan Muna, ACT Teachers, and Gabriela.

Esperon, meanwhile, said that it is the duty of the public officials to relay the stand of the President and administration especially during the election season.

“The Omnibus Election Code is to harmonize with other new and relevant laws and should not to be used to penalized public officers who merely implement or comply or reiterate the policy on statements of the President,” he said.

“Most importantly, it is the height of irony and injustice when persons or groups cry red tagging as an election offense when in fact the complaint that they filed is self based on imaginative speculation that all public officers of NTF-ELCAC are automatically guilty of partisan political activity by their mere association to the NTF-ELCAC,” he further said.

“The complainants selective handpicking of public officers of NTF-ELCAC as respondents here in all without basis and without any allegations and proof of the respondents participation as to overt act to the alleged conveys not their sense of justice but rather betrays their bias, prejudice and harassment against the duly constituted authorities of the state,” he added.

Aside from Esperon, also present during the conference were NTF-ELCAC spokesperson Undersecretary Lorraine Marie Badoy, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency Director-General Alex Monteagudo, Assistant Solicitor General Angelita Miranda, Interior Undersecretary Marlo Iringan, TESDA Deputy Director-General Gabriel Luis Quisumbing, Defense Undersecretary Cesar Yano, DND Undersecretary Reynaldo Mapagu, and Public Works and Highways Undersecretary Maximo Carvajal.

In response, former Bayan Muna representative Casiño underscored that public officials, including those in the security sector, should not engage in partisan political activity and use government resources, noting that this is the "crime that NTF-ELCAC officials should be held accountable for."

“Is it proper for these officials to use public funds and resources to vilify, discredit, threaten and intimidate parties and candidates running in the coming elections?” Casiño said in a statement.

“Badoy’s rants are a sign that the Duterte regime is in panic mode due to the huge turnouts at the Leni-Kiko rallies. They are now doing everything, including throwing the kitchen sink, to try to stop the momentum of the Leni-Kiko tandem,” he added.

The NTF-ELCAC earlier cited the supposed endorsement of CPP founder Joma Sison for Robredo’s presidential bid.

“VP Leni Robredo’s camp should stop insulting the intelligence of the Filipino people by pretending they have not made a pact with the devil, the communist terrorist CPP-NPA-NDF,” Badoy said.

Robredo, on the other hand, said efforts linking her and her supporters to communists will only make her presidential campaign stronger.

Meanwhile, Badoy faces another rap before the Office of the Ombudsman on Wednesday for allegedly red-tagging Maginhawa community pantry organizer Patricia "Patreng" Non. —AOL/VBL, GMA News