NTF-ELCAC is biggest NPA recruiter
KARAPATAN Public Information
PRESS RELEASE
20 May 2026
Reference: Cristina Palabay, KARAPATAN secretary general, 09173162831
KARAPATAN Public Information Desk, 09189790580
NTF-ELCAC is biggest NPA recruiter
The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) is harping on its “terror-grooming” narrative as it cried crocodile tears over the death of Vince Francis Dingding, a former student who joined the New People’s Army (NPA) and was killed with four others in an alleged encounter in Cauayan, Negros Occidental on May 16, 2026.
Bombarded with criticism after it gloated over the killing of 10 NPA hors de combat and 9 civilians in Toboso, Negros Occidental on April 19, 2026, and covered up the violations of human rights and international humanitarian law (IHL) perpetrated by the military, the NTF-ELCAC has been making a turnabout in its tactics in feigning sympathy for the casualties in Cauayan and their families.
In the same vein, however, it red-tagged the University of the Philippines in Cebu from which Dingding graduated and even dragged his loved one into the picture. In the process, the NTF-ELCAC strongly hinted that she was guilty by association, and undermined the judiciary by insinuating that her acquittal a mistake.
When the NTF-ELCAC starts pointing its finger, however, it should be made aware of the fact that three of its other fingers are pointing back at it.
According to reports, Dingding did not immediately choose to join the NPA, but first took a job where he became disillusioned by the low wages offered by a the foreign tech company he joined.
A fellow casualty of Dingding, Jobert Casipong had once returned to civilian life but suffered relentless harassment, including numerous death threats from the military and intelligence agents, and decided to return to the NPA.
A third fellow casualty, Alex Languita, reportedly witnessed the murder of his father, one of the peasant activists killed under Oplan Sauron in Negros on December 2018. His family said Languita joined the NPA because he felt it was the only way he could give justice to his father and other victims of human rights violations.
If Marcos Sr. and his repressive dictatorship were the biggest recruiters for the NPA decades ago, nowadays this role is played by state agencies under the dictator’s son Marcos Jr. like the NTF-ELCAC that red-tag, threaten, harass and intimidate activists, dissenters and others perceived as “enemies of the state”. In many ways, it was the NTF-ELCAC and its way of propping up the rotten social system, justifying state repression and defending violations of human rights and IHL that drove Vince Francis Dingding, Jobert Casipong, Alex Languita and many others to the hills.
So when the NTF-ELCAC once again starts looking for something or someone to blame NPA recruitment on, other than the grave social ills that beset the country, it should do a mea culpa for severely shrinking the civic space and forcing people to choose more radical options for meaningful social change.
PUBLIC INFORMATION DESK
publi...@karapatan.org
---------------------------------------------------------------------
#1 Maaralin corner Matatag Sts., Central District
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. It was established in 1995.