NTF-ELCAC says unmasking communist-terrorists part of 'sacred duty'

The government's anti-communist insurgency task force on Thursday defended itself after Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra urged it to refrain from red-tagging without concrete evidence.

In a statement in response to Guevarra, National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) spokesperson Lorraine Badoy said they are just performing their job to unmask "these terrorists."

"At the NTF-ELCAC, we view it as our sacred duty to arm our countrymen with information and strip the masks off these terrorists who lie to steal our children away from us, who have murdered scores of our indigenous peoples and have damned the poorest among us," Badoy said.

"Where they create confusion with their lies, we create clarity with the truth. Where they are loud and bold about their toxic lies, we are louder and bolder about the truth."

At the Kapihan sa Manila Bay on Wednesday, Guevarra said those who accuse individuals of being terrorists should file appropriate charges rather than make accusations.

NTF-ELCAC has accused several progressive organizations, including media groups, of having links with communist rebels and terrorism, even though these groups are not designated as terrorists by the Anti-Terrorism Council, the body authorized to identify terrorist groups and individuals under the law.

NTF-ELCAC is not a part of ATC.

Badoy, who is facing a string of administrative and criminal complaints over alleged red-tagging, argued that the government  should not shy away from calling these supposed "communist fronts" as terror groups.

"What has grievously endangered our people is all those decades government reneged on its sacred duty, looked the other way and refused to identify members of the CPP NPA NDF–even if they already knew who these terrorists were," she said.

In a separate statement, NTF-ELCAC Legal Cluster agreed with Guevarra's reminder but insisted that "red-tagging" or branding people as communists is just being used by the communists groups as a defense.

"We are happy to inform the SOJ that the NTF-ELCAC has been doing that for the past years. Cases were filed against the CPP-NPA-NDF members, leaders,  and allied front groups. The NTF-ELCAC takes the advice of the SOJ (Secretary of Justice) seriously and obediently," it said.

"If there is one thing that the SOJ and the NTF-ELCAC have in common, we both believe that there is no such thing as red-tagging, contrary to what the propaganda machinery and the propaganda template of the CPP-NPA-NDF would like to pitch to the Filipino people. —Llanesca T. Panti/KBK, GMA News