NTF-ELCAC spells widespread rights violations

MANILA – Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said that he will “never abolish” the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). For rights-based groups, this would mean an increase in the cases of human rights violations under his administration. 

Reacting to Marcos Jr.’s statement that he is “encouraged by the reports,” Karapatan Secretary-General Cristina Palabay stressed, “Reports? Does he mean reports that there were 119 extrajudicial killings, 76 frustrated extrajudicial killings, 14 enforced disappearances, 762 political prisoners and 3,706,431 cases of threats, harassment and intimidation as of the end of 2024?”

The group released their 2024 year end report showing cases of human rights violations from July 2022 to December 2024. 

”The Filipino people are suffering from severe human rights violations and breaches of international humanitarian law (IHL) as the Marcos Jr. regime aims to eliminate the Communist Party of the Philippines by the end of 2024,” the group said in a statement, stressing that the NTF-ELCAC was a factor in the increasing cases of rights violations. 

It was during the administration of Rodrigo Duterte that the NTF-ELCAC was formed under Executive Order No. 70 (series of 2018). 

Since its establishment, there has been an increase in cases of vilification which has led to the filing of trumped-up charges and eventual detention of activists and human rights defenders. There were also cases of killings and disappearances. 

“The NTF-ELCAC, notorious for its role in red-tagging activists and other perceived dissenters, has been instrumental in profiling, threatening and harassing its targets and setting them up for more serious human rights violations,” Karapatan said in a statement. 

Karapatan said that the NTF-ELCAC actively surveils, red-tags, and harasses local activists, coercing them into denouncing their organizations. In its pursuit to quash the revolutionary movement, the group said that many individuals are tricked into attending aid events, only to end up in “surrender ceremonies” where they are wrongly depicted as “armed rebels returning to the law.”

Karapatan has documented 560 victims of forced/fake surrender under the Marcos Jr administration. 

For Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), the NTF-ELCAC has long been used as a weapon to red-tag, harass, and intimidate farmers and peasant leaders who are fighting for genuine land reform and social justice. “Its existence perpetuates a climate of fear and impunity in the countryside,” said KMP Secretary-General and Tanggol Magsasaka spokesperson Ronnie Manalo. “Instead of addressing the root causes of poverty and armed conflict, the government is using NTF-ELCAC to justify the violent suppression of legitimate dissent and peasant struggles.”

They repeated the call for the immediate abolition of NTF-ELCAC and the “reallocation of its multi-billion peso budget towards genuine agrarian reform and rural development.” 

“The billions of pesos wasted on state terrorism should be redirected to provide farmers with land, support services, and social protection. The government should be investing in food security and agricultural development — not funding militarization and human rights violations,” Manalo said. (DAA)

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