1,500-strong private school league joins NTF-ELCAC as private partner

MANILA, Philippines — The Coordinating Council for Private Educational Association (COCOPEA) joined the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). 

NTF-ELCAC Executive Director of the NTF-ELCAC Undersecretary Ernesto Torres Jr. made the announcement in a press briefing on Friday, November 8.  

“It was approved by the President, the inclusion of the Coordinating Council for Private Educational Association or COCOPEA as one of the two private representatives to be an official member of the NTF-ELCAC,” Torres said. 

Torres said that COCOPEA represented 1,500 private schools from across the country. He said that it would broaden their base of information awareness and “terror grooming” of the  Communist Party of the Philippines/New People's Army/National Democratic Front (CPP/NPA/NDF). 

“For students specifically to be able to exercise their right to an informed choice, a choice that would not harm themselves, their school, their family, their community and our country. So that, it would be fair with them,” Torres said. 

Santos said that the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency and the Presidential Communications Office, who are members of the NTF-ELCAC, will be the ones to oversea the information campaign. 

However, the NTF-ELCAC has been accused of red-tagging progressive groups in school meetings and forums. 

The Supreme Court has previously issued a decision in a case pertaining to red-tagging, saying that it was a threat to life, liberty and security. 

Asked about possible concerns of red-tagging, Office of the Solicitor General Atty. James Clifford Santos said that red-tagging was not real. 

“It is an invention of the CPP-NPA-NDF to demoralized and to put a bad picture on the unmasking of the government of the real identities of the affiliates of the CPP-NPA-NDF,” Santos said. 

Santos also said that the decision of the Supreme Court was “obiter dictum” or made in passing. 

“The statement of the court on red-tagging is a mere obiter dictum that is not binding on succeeding cases,” he said.