NTF-Elcac logo. INQUIRER FILES
MANILA, Philippines – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday said there is no plan to abolish the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac).
Marcos said there was no reason to.
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“Bakit lagi niyong tinatanong sa akin yan? Wala namang dahilan kung bakit natin tatanggalin ‘yan. Ang sinasabi, dahil mayroon raw red-tagging na ginagawa,” said Marcos in an ambush interview in Cagayan De Oro.
(Why do you always ask me that? There’s no reason for us to abolish it. What’s being said is because there’s allegedly red-tagging going on.)
“No, we will not abolish the NTF-Elcac,” Marcos said in Filipino.
According to Marcos, the NTC-Elcac was there to assist insurgents who decided to return to the rule of law.
The NTF-Elcac was established in 2018, during the time of then President Rodrigo Duterte through an Executive Order No. 70.
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However, the agency became notorious for red-tagging activists and people who were critical of the government.
When the Supreme Court in May decided that red-tagging is connected to the use of threats and intimidation, there were calls to abolish the NTF-Elcac.