“Ni singkong duling ay hindi deserve ng NTF-ELCAC,” said KARAPATAN secretary general Cristina Palabay.
[Not a single centavo was deserved by NTF-ELCAC]
National Task Force to End Local Communist and Armed Conflict or NTF-ELCAC was established in 2018 since President Rodrigo Duterte signed Executive Order No. 70, institutionalizing its whole-of-nation approach which claimed to “address the root causes of insurgencies, internal disturbances and tensions, and other armed conflicts and threats” in order to attain “inclusive and sustainable peace”.
However, it has not been the case among activists which were then referred to as “terrorists” by the said task force.
“Hindi na sila natuto sa kasaysayan. Ginamit ang ganitong kasing dahas sa mamamayan. Dumaan na tayo sa maraming Oplan, hindi pa rin natututo ang reaksyunaryong gobyerno. Totoo na kahit kailan hindi magagamit ang militaristang solusyon para tugunan ang ugat ng tunggalian dito sa bansa,” Palabay affirmed.
[They have not learned history. Such violence was used against the people. We have gone through many Oplans, the reactionary government is still not learning. It is true that a militarist solution can never be used to address the root of the conflict in this country]
Human rights defenders and supporters trooped to Camp Aguinaldo to reiterate the abolition of the controversial task force after three years of terror, violence, and repression.
Palabay furthered that NTF-ELCAC has only become a weapon of the Duterte government in his desperate bid to crush dissent and sow fear among human rights defenders, journalists, critics, or ordinary citizens critical of the administration.
“Hindi deserve ng mamamayan ang NTF-ELCAC na may P10 bilyong pondo. Kahit na ibinaba ng Senado itong pondo para sa kanila ay mainam na ikalampag ang pag-abolish dito dahil wala naman itong silbi kundi ipalaganap ang isang tiraniko at pasismong tugon sa ilalim ng administrasyong Duterte,” Palabay added.
[The people do not deserve the NTF-ELCAC with P10 billion funding. Even if the Senate lowers the fund for them, it would be better to abolish it because it is useless as it only propagates tyranny and fascism under the Duterte administration]
It must be noted that the senate lawmakers have increased by 10.8 billion the government’s anti-insurgency task force prior to its earlier decision to slash by P24 billion in its 2022 proposed budget and rechanneled it to the healthcare workers’ special risk allowance (SRA).
According to finance committee chairman Senator Sonny Angara, the P10billion would then be intended for the task force’s Barangay Development Program (BDP).
Rights defenders argued that these funds are being used as military pork barrel in order to reward human rights violations perpetrated by the state against dissenters.
KARAPATAN cited that only 26 or 1% of the taskforce’s 2,318 projects were reportedly completed this year. Accordingly, the largest chunk of the BDP was distributed to regions of Davao, Caraga, Northern Mindanao, Western Visayas, and Soccskargen which tallied the highest number of extrajudicial killings and political persecution since Duterte sat in power.
Since July 2016 up to this date, 210 out of the 424 cases of extrajudicial killings transpired in the mentioned regions while 238 out of the 489 political prisoners arrested under the Duterte administration were arrested in the same regions.
Palabay said that what the Filipinos deserve is a government which will heed their immediate demands, especially in this time of pandemic.
“Ang deserve ng mamayang Piliipino pagkain, kalusugan, edukasyon, pabahay, matinong pulis at militar na totoong magseserve and protect. Deserve natin ng makataong sahod, hindi endo. Ang deserve ng mamamayan ay isang matinong gobyerno na hindi kinukurakot ang pera ng taumbayan,” she said.
[The Filipino people deserve food, health, education, housing, sensible police and military to truly serve and protect. We deserve livable wages, not contractualization. What the people deserve is a sensible government that does not plunder the people’s money].
