Robredo says she is always against NTF-ELCAC's 'red-tagging' activities

Vice President Leni Robredo said Monday that she has always been against the alleged red-tagging activities of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).

Robredo, a presidential aspirant in the 2022 elections, made the clarification during a stop in Cebu City, weeks after she drew flak from some human rights advocates after she expressed support to the mandate of NTF-ELCAC.

Robredo earlier said she is in favor of NTF-ELCAC's abolition due to duplication of mandate, but calibrated her take on the anti-insurgency task force during her meeting with top military officials.

"Wala naman nagbago sa statement ko. Hindi ko against sa mandate ng NTF-ELCAC na whole-of-nation approach against insurgency. Against ako sa NTF-ELCAC who go beyond the mandate that the task force is given," Robredo said.

(I have not changed my statement. I am not against the mandate of the task force in using whole-of-nation approach against insurgency. What I am against is NTF-ELCAC going beyond its mandate.)

"Ang hindi ako agree ang iyong pag-identify [kung sino ag komunista] ay very subjective [What I don't agree is the subjective identification on who is/are communists). NTF-ELCAC's mandate is beyond politics and should not be used to harass political opponents."

Fighting insurgency, Robredo said, should not be subject to the whims of NTF-ELCAC officials.

"I am for incentivizing barangays [free of insurgency]. Ang hindi ako in agreement ay iyong NTF-ELCAC becoming so powerful that it has been used to harrass, and I am also at the receiving end of the red-tagging. Red-tagging is something we do not take lightly," Robredo said, referring to the NTF-ELCAC’s Barangay Development Fund.

Former NTF-ELCAC spokesperson and retired military officer Antonio Parlade Jr. has been accused of linking administration critics, celebrities, community pantry organizers, and schools to the communist movement — a practice called red-tagging.

Parlade left the NTF-ELCAC ahead of his retirement last July and was appointed as deputy director-general of the National Security Council (NSC).

Progressive lawmakers from the House of Representatives have also called for the abolition of NTF-ELCAC. --KBK, GMA News