NTF-ELCAC slams 'ill-informed' UN Rapporteur: ‘We felt betrayed’

The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict on Saturday said it felt betrayed when United Nations Special Rapporteur Irene Khan “seemingly visited the Philippines for an agenda.”

In a statement, NTF-ELCAC executive director Undersecretary Ernesto Torres Jr. aired his strong opposition to Khan’s recommendation to abolish the country’s anti-insurgency task force for allegedly being “outdated.”

Torres said Khan’s recommendation just came after he conducted a “series of engagements” with anti-government groups, including personalities “who are affiliated with if not members” of the front organizations of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front. 

Hence, Khan’s visit was counterproductive, he noted.

“The Philippine government through the Presidential Task Force on Media Security received UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression with the intent to showcase to her the milestones that have been attained by the government in the field of press freedom and observance of human rights,” Torres said. 

“She was invited here for a different purpose. She seems to come here with an agenda. An agenda to undermine and demolish the NTF-ELCAC without understanding the essence of the NTF-ELCAC. We felt betrayed,” he added.

“UNSR Irene Khan blindsided the Filipino people,” Torres stressed. The NTF-ELCAC was “hijacked” because Khan “allowed herself to be used by those who want the government and the NTF-ELCAC to fail.”

In a press briefing on Friday, Khan said the foundations of NTF-ELCAC’s creation, through Executive Order No. 70 issued by then-President Rodrigo Duterte, had already changed.

“NTF-ELCAC was established about six years ago in a different context. It is outdated. It does not take into account the ongoing prospects of peace negotiations,” she said.

Torres described Khan’s call for the abolition of the NTF-ELCAC as “a lame attempt to breathe life into a dying terrorist movement.”

The official said Khan made the opinion that NTF-ELCAC is outdated because she was “ill-informed.”

“The NTF-ELCAC remains as the single most relevant task force in the Philippines whose accomplishments will reverberate across many generations of Filipinos and whose achievements have brought back the pride to the Filipino as a people and as a nation,” he said.

Torres said Khan failed to comprehend the relevance of NTF-ELCAC. 

“The NTF-ELCAC rejects Irene Khan's call for the abolition of the NTF-ELCAC. We take offense in her pronouncements against the Philippine government and the NTF-ELCAC,” he said. 

“Should we listen to anyone who betrays us, hijacks our ideas, and empowers the terrorist movement? The answer is a resounding No. Never again,” he added.

“We will not allow any outsider to dictate to us how to fight our wars and to dictate upon us the means to win the peace for our people,” said Torres.