National Security Adviser Clarita Carlos (Voltaire Domingo/Senate PRIB)
MANILA, Philippines — In an about-face on Tuesday, National Security Adviser (NSA) Clarita Carlos said she is considering changing her mind over her opposition to the institutionalization of the the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac).
During the Senate committee meeting on national defense and security, peace, unification, and reconciliation, Carlos argued that her position not to systematize the NTF-Elcac was due to its “time-bound” mandate.
“Our indicator of the greatest success of the NTF-Elcac is that it will be rendered obsolescent because that means, you would have embedded all the functions of the task force into the existing agencies of the government,” she said.
But Senator Ronald dela Rosa, author of Senate Bill No. 200 or the proposed Elcac Act, pointed out that it has a sunset clause that will automatically dissolve the task force “upon the accomplishment of purposes for which it was created unless sooner dissolved by the President.”
After hearing the arguments of the police chief-turned-lawmaker, Carlos conceded that she missed out on the provision and reversed her stance on the institutionalization of the NTF-Elcac.
“Because I am a scholar, I am willing to change my mind. I forgot there is a sunset clause there and yes, it would render itself obsolescent when the reason for its being would have been obliterated, so I am willing to change my mind. For the record, I am withdrawing what I earlier articulated,” she said.
In 2018, the NTF-Elcac was created through Executive Order No. 70 issued by former President Rodrigo Duterte.
Since then, it has usually earned flak for its controversial pronouncements, especially on red-tagging personalities deemed critical of the government.