In a statement released on Friday, Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines president Pablo Virgilio S. David, D.D., Bishop of Kalookan, clarified news reports that the CBCP has become a member of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.

One of the CBCP's commissions, the Episcopal Commission on Public Affairs led by Bishop Reynaldo Evangelista with Fr. Jerome Secillano as executive secretary, "has the specific task of engaging government on many levels of dialogue over important issues," said David.

"The said Commission clarifies that they are engaging with the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) precisely 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," David added.

The question of whether the CBCP Commission can engage with the NTF-ELCAC as a private sector representative and not be part of the task force's executive commission as a member will be tackled by the CBCP, said David, who stressed  that "It's not exactly CBCP as a conference but the Episcopal Commission of Public Affairs that is there as a private sector representative."

"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 Commission also has the intention of providing moral-ethical approaches to dealing with the problem of insurgency."

"We intend to tackle this matter and come up with a concrete resolution on it in our forthcoming meeting of the CBCP's Permanent Council. 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," he added.