Groups renew call to abolish NTF-ELCAC, junk confidential funds

For the signatories of the unity statement, the struggle is not just about defunding an agency but also about reclaiming public resources for genuine social services and protecting democratic rights.

By Shan Kenshin Ecaldre 
Bulatlat.com

Cabuyao City, LAGUNA  — On the seventh year of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), youth organizations, church leaders, artists, and human rights defenders renewed calls for its abolition and for the scrapping of confidential and intelligence funds (CIF), citing corruption, red-tagging, and grave human rights violations linked to the agency’s operations.

The College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), together with various sectors, issued the call on December 4 as part of a unity statement led by Manindigan, a national network opposing the worsening state of human rights and international humanitarian law violations under the Marcos Jr. administration. The statement gathered over a hundred signatories from different progressive formations.For the signatories of the unity statement, the struggle is not just about defunding an agency but also about reclaiming public resources for genuine social services and protecting democratic rights.

“In light of growing reports on corruption in government, we urgently call for a thorough investigation into projects and programs under the NTF-ELCAC as well as into the use of Confidential and Intelligence Funds, as these are linked to violations of human rights and international humanitarian law,” the groups said.

The NTF-ELCAC was created in 2018 through Executive Order No. 70 under the Duterte administration to supposedly end the decades-long armed conflict through a “whole-of-nation approach.” Since its creation, however, rights organizations have documented how it became the government’s primary machinery for red-tagging and political repression.

Shrinking space

CEGP National Spokesperson Brell Lacerna said that the task force placed youth activists and student journalists in danger through systematic red-tagging in universities and communities.

“The NTF-ELCAC has put the lives of youth fighting repression, corruption, and impunity at risk. The government’s national security efforts have failed by funding and promoting NTF-ELCAC’s red-tagging programs in universities, while diverting resources from the urgent demand for accountability,” Lacerna said in a statement. “In a true democracy, there is no room for corrupt entities like the NTF-ELCAC and its operatives.”

Even United Nations Special Rapporteurs previously called for the task force’s abolition, stressing how its red-tagging activities undermine freedom of speech, expression, and association. The Supreme Court ruled that red-tagging endangers life, liberty, and security yet the practice continues unabated under the current administration.

Billions for ‘development,’ little for the people

Critics also denounced the NTF-ELCAC’s Barangay Development Program (BDP), which received as much as P9 billion in past budgets. While presented as a program to improve rural livelihood and to discourage armed rebellion, groups said.that it has fostered military-driven patronage politics and weakened civilian authority at the barangay level.

“In many areas, ‘development’ is reduced to occasional rations of sardines and a few kilos of rice,” Manindigan said in a statement.

Communities also reported coercion under the NTF-ELCAC’s surrender program, the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP). Alleged former rebels are reportedly recycled and even firearms reused to justify millions in reintegration funds, money which, according to rights groups, ends up lining the pockets of corrupt individuals and their military handlers.

CIF as breeding ground for corruption

The call to junk CIF gained renewed urgency following the investigations of the House Quad Committee during the 19th Congress into Vice President Sara Duterte’s CIF. Lawmakers uncovered how CIF, due to its secretive and discretionary nature, has become vulnerable to abuse and corruption.

“Transparency is essential to guard against misuse. Instead, CIF thrives on secrecy,” Manindigan said in a statement.

They added that junking both the NTF-ELCAC and CIF would free up billions of pesos for urgently needed social services such as health care, education, housing, and agriculture.

State terror machine

Human rights alliance Karapatan echoed the call for abolition, branding the NTF-ELCAC as a “state terror machine” that thrives on political persecution.

“Instead of allocating billions of pesos to this nefarious agency, the Filipino people would be better served if such funds were rechanneled to urgently needed social services,” Karapatan Secretary-General Cristina Palabay said.

Palabay also flagged the task force’s proposed P8.08-billion budget for 2026, a 314% increase from its 2025 allocation, calling it “not only a waste of the people’s money, but money used to fund repression.”

“As the main implementer of the Marcos administration’s counter-insurgency blueprint, the NTF-ELCAC remains the regime’s principal machinery for State terrorism, despite domestic and international clamor for its abolition,” she said.

Red-tagging

Among the latest human rights violations victims is Gary Buban, a 44-year-old researcher and agriculturist last seen on November 28, 2025 in the areas of Goa, Tigaon, and San Jose in Camarines Sur while conducting research for Damayan nin Paraoma, a local farmers’ organization. Buban, who was earlier red-tagged, failed to contact his family and is feared to have been abducted by state forces. If confirmed, he would be the 15th desaparecido under the Marcos Jr. administration.

In Kalinga, 11 armed personnel of the Philippine National Police forcibly entered the residence of indigenous environmental defender Elma Awingan-Tuazon on November 30 in what groups described as an act of harassment and intimidation. Tuazon, a convenor of the Justice and Peace Advocates of Kalinga, has opposed large-scale dam and mining projects threatening the Saltan River and ancestral lands. She was previously red-tagged.

Meanwhile, several leaders of Bicol-based people’s organizations, including a Karapatan national council member, were featured in a red-tagging poster in Albay, falsely accusing them as “traitors” to the New People’s Army (NPA).

“This is especially worrying,” Palabay said. “[O]nce red-tagged, victims become vulnerable to more serious violations. Should harm befall them, authorities can conveniently blame the NPA.”

Demand for accountability

Karapatan called for an investigation into the NTF-ELCAC’s budget after government auditors flagged its failure to liquidate millions of pesos and noted missing supporting documents for various transactions.

“It is time to reveal and uproot corrupt practices under these so-called ‘peace and development’ programs,” the group said. “This terrorizing agency is a bane to the Filipino people. It must be abolished immediately.”

For the signatories of the unity statement, the struggle is not just about defunding an agency but also about reclaiming public resources for genuine social services and protecting democratic rights.

“As part of the fight against corruption, we must ensure that government funds are spent to advance the people’s real interests and welfare,” the statement read. “Only then can justice and genuine peace flourish.” (DAA)

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