KARAPATAN: Abolish NTF-ELCAC!
KARAPATAN Public Information
PRESS RELEASE
December 4, 2025
Reference: Cristina Palabay, KARAPATAN secretary general, 09173162831
KARAPATAN Public Information Desk, 09189790580
KARAPATAN: Abolish NTF-ELCAC!
KARAPATAN renewed its call to abolish the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), as the agency marked its seventh year of existence.
"Instead of allocating billions of pesos to this nefarious State terror machine," said KARAPATAN secretary general Cristina Palabay, "the Filipino people would be better served if such funds were to be rechanneled to urgently needed social services."
"The NTF-ELCAC's proposed PhP8.08 budget for 2026, which is 314% higher than its 2025 budget, is not only a waste of the people's money, but is money used to fund repression," added Palabay. “As the main implementer of the Marcos administration’s counter-insurgency blueprint, the National Action Plan for Unity, Peace and Development, the NTF-ELCAC continues to be Marcos’ main machinery for State terrorism, despite domestic and international clamor for its abolition,” she said.
The NTF-ELCAC's avowed purpose has been to target progressive people's organizations and human rights defenders, claiming they are front organizations of the Communist Party and the New People's Army (NPA). Thus, the red-tagging sprees and the threats against, and harassment of activists and other dissenters that the agency has been notorious for. Red-tagging has stifled social discourse and considerably narrowed the civic space, said Palabay.
Among its latest victims is 44-year old researcher and agriculturist Gary Buban, who was last seen on November 28, 2025 in the area of Goa, Tigaon and San Jose in Camarines Sur while conducting research for the Damayan nin Paraoma, a local farmers' group. Buban, a victim of red-tagging, has failed to contact his family since last Friday and is feared to have been abducted by State forces. He may end up becoming the 15th desaparecido under the Marcos Jr. regime.
In Kalinga, 11 armed personnel of the Philippine National Police forced their way into the residence of indigenous environmental defender Elma Awingan-Tuazon last November 30, 2025 in an obvious act of harassment and intimidation. A convenor of Justice and Peace Advocates of Kalinga, Tuazon has consistently opposed large-scale dam and mining projects threatening the Saltan River and Kalinga ancestral lands, and had been red-tagged for her advocacies.
Meanwhile, several leaders of Bicol-based people's organizations, including Karapatan's national council member from the region, were falsely portrayed in a red-tagging poster as alleged traitors to the NPA in Albay province. "This is especially worrying," said Palabay, "since as victims of red-tagging who become vulnerable to more serious human rights violations instigated by the NTF-ELCAC, authorities can simply accuse the NPA should any further harm befall the victims."
The NTF-ELCAC’s budget and the whole Marcos Jr. administration’s budget for counter-insurgency should likewise be investigated. It has been flagged by government auditors for failure to liquidate millions in funds, and had suspiciously been missing supporting documents for transactions, added Palabay.
"This terrorizing agency is a bane to the Filipino people," stressed Palabay. "It must be abolished immediately."
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KARAPATAN is an alliance of human rights organizations and programs, human rights desks and committees of people’s organizations, and individual advocates committed to the defense and promotion of people’s rights and civil liberties. It monitors and documents cases of human rights violations, assists and defends victims and conducts education, training and campaign.