NTF-ELCAC denies linking community pantries to leftist groups

People visit the Maginhawa community pantry initiated by Ana Patricia Non on Thursday, April 15, 2021, at Teacher’s Village, Quezon City. Non says she set up the community pantry to help people who are badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. (INQUIRER file photo / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE)

MANILA, Philippines — The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) on Wednesday denied linking community pantry organizers to leftist groups.

In an interview on ABS-CBN’s TeleRadyo, NTF-ELCAC spokesperson Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr., said the task force has nothing to do with red-tagging community pantries and its organizers.

“No, haka haka yan ng ibang grupo na malilikot ang mga utak (No, other groups made that up),” Parlade stressed.

Parlade said the counter-insurgency task force is just “checking” the situation of community pantries to make sure that organizers do not have any other agenda.

“I don’t want to use the word profiling kasi masyadong controversial yan sa mga ibang tao, what we’re saying is we’re just checking kung ano ‘yung ginagawa, kung anong sitwasyon sa mga community pantries na ito,” he said.

(I don’t want to use the word profiling because it’s too controversial. What we’re saying is we’re just checking on what they’re doing and the situation on the ground.)

“We’re just checking kung sino itong mga nag-oorganize nito to make sure na walang agenda,” he added.

(We’re just checking who the organizers are to make sure that there is no other agenda.)

Parlade added that several netizens alerted and asked the NTF-ELCAC to check the community pantries, with some reporting that there are “agitation” and “propaganda materials” in some other pantries.

“Ang mga nag-alert sa amin ay mga netizens mismo, they’re informing us na may ganitong activity dito sa aming community. Paki-check po kasi bakit sila mayroon silang mga karatula na kung anu ano, may agitation, may mga propaganda materials dito paki-check po kung sino itong mga ito,” Parlade said.

(Netizens alerted us, informing us that there’s such an activity in their community, asking us to check because some have propaganda materials.)

The Maginhawa community pantry along Maginhawa Street in Quezon City was forced to temporarily close on Tuesday due to red-tagging issues.

Organizer Ana Patricia Non posted on Facebook screenshots of several social media posts linking the community pantry to communist groups.

One of the screenshots showed NTF-ELCAC, which has been previously involved in red-tagging controversies, sharing posts saying that community pantries are being used for propaganda of the CPP-NPA-NDF.

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