CBCP public affairs commission joins NTF-ELCAC; dialogue on 'red-tagging' sought

MANILA, Philippines — An office of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has joined the government’s anti-communist task force with the aim of engaging its officials on the practice of state-sponsored red-tagging.

The CBCP's Episcopal Commission on Public Affairs joined as one of the new members of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) to "address some Church issues vis-a-vis government, including the issue about the red-tagging of some cause-oriented groups and Church organizations by the said body," the CBCP said in a statement on Friday.

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NTF-ELCAC executive director Ernesto Torre also announced in a press conference that the CBCP will be one of the two private sector representatives joining the task force, which also recently expanded its membership to include nearly all department secretaries. 

Since its creation in 2018, the task force has consistently deployed dubious narratives against human rights defenders, members of Church organizations, and Church leaders, among others. A spate of red-tagging of Church leaders in 2021 prompted CBCP President Virgilio David to underscore how red-tagging is used by politicians to stifle dissent.

Torre said that “at this point in our campaign,” the NTF-ELCAC deemed it “necessary” to invite two private sector representatives to join its roster as allowed by the executive order creating the task force.

“The Executive Committee agreed to have one from the religious sector — the CBCP, represented by the Episcopal Commission on Public Affairs, particularly Bishop Reynaldo Evangelista and his alternate, Father Jerome Secillano, who was physically present during the meeting,” the NTF-ELCAC official said. 

The task force is also “working on a business sector representative” to fill in the other slot for a private sector representative.

After citing gains in anti-insurgency operations since the task force’s creation, Torre said that it is “very necessary that as the informational operational environment change, we need to recalibrate the way we do things.”

'Church-government dialogue' 

The CBCP clarified in the same statement that it is not CBCP as a conference that joined the NTF-ELCAC, but its public affairs office.

"As such, this Commission has access to the NTF-ELCAC ExeCom and more opportunity to express the Church’s specific concerns, since its mandate is to act as a liaison of the CBCP to the public and private sectors and to advance some of the social concerns and issues of the Church. The said Commissin also has the intention of providing moral-ethical approaches to dealing with the problem of insurgency," CBCP President Virgilio David said.

David also said that the CBCP Permanent Council will come up with a "concrete resolution" on the matter in its next meeting.

"Can this Commission engage the said government body in a dialogue without having to join its ExeCom as member — i.e. as private sector representative? We hope to come up with some resolutions on this matter soon," David said.

Bigger membership base

Aside from the CBCP, the NTF-ELCAC has also expanded the number of members of its executive committee.

The secretaries of 11 government agencies and departments have also joined the task force, bringing the total number of its members to 32.

These are the following:

• Department of Information and Communications Technology
• Department of Labor and Employment
• Department of Transportation
• Department of Tourism
• Department of Energy
• Department of Trade and Industry
• Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development
• Department of Foreign Affairs
• Department of Environment and Natural Resources
• Department of Health
• Department of Migrant Workers

Executive Order No. 70, s. 2018, which former President Rodrigo Duterte issued to create the NTF-ELCAC, previously listed the following agencies as part of its membership:

• Department of National Defense
• Department of the Interior and Local Government
• Department of Justice
• Department of Social Welfare and Development
• Department of Education
• Department of Finance
• Department of Budget and Management
• Department of Public Works and Highways
• Department of Agrarian Reform

With the addition of 11 new departments in the NTF-ELCAC’s roster, this means that 20 departments part of the executive branch of government have representatives at the anti-communist task force.