Senators Imee Marcos and Christopher “Bong” Go on Sunday slammed United Nations Special Rapporteur Irene Khan for calling on the government of the Philippines to dismantle the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, or NTF-ELCAC.

Senator Marcos accused Khan of being a “threatening foreign meddler.”

“After a mere 10 days in the Philippines, during which she never visited the NTF barangays but only met a chosen few witnesses, she has the knowledge and the right to tell the Philippine government what to do?” she asked.

“Not only are these foreigners meddlesome and out of their depth, she has also threatened that the Philippines’ ‘ambitious’ plan to lead the UN Commission on the Status of Women and obtain a seat on the UN Security Council depends on conforming with her ‘findings.’ Why exactly did we invite her anyway?” she added.

Last week, Khan concluded her visit to the Philippines with a press briefing at UN House Manila in Mandaluyong City, where she called for the abolition of the “outdated” anti-insurgency task force.

“It does not take into account the ongoing prospects of peace and negotiations. I therefore recommend that the task force should be abolished,” the special rapporteur said.

‘Counterproductive’

Senator Marcos said Khan’s call was “hardly surprising, given her long-standing Amnesty International bias.”

Go, for his part, said that NTF-ELCAC was established as a whole-of-government approach to address the root causes of the insurgency, such as poverty, inaccessible public services and programs, and government neglect in far-flung, often conflict-ridden communities.

He argued that the recent announcement that the government and the communist rebels intend to resume peace talks does not mean government should stop efforts to address the root causes of these conflicts through the NTF-ELCAC.

“We all hope for peace amid these decades-long armed conflict,” Go said as he questioned the credibility of Khan.

“Peace cannot prosper long-term if we do not make a sincere and concerted effort to address all its root causes. That is the premise of establishing the NTF-ELCAC. Its mission for long-lasting peace must continue and must not be derailed by short-term developments,” Go explained.

Senator Marcos, likewise, said that the abolition of the NTF-ELCAC would be “counter-productive, even dangerous.”

“Thousands of rebels have peacefully returned to the fold of the law. The government has practically won against the communist insurgency, with only about 1,800 rebels left, according to our military and police,” she said.

Citing the decades-old gains of the government efforts against the communist insurgency in the country, National Security Council Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya brushed off Khan’s recommendation to dismantle the anti-insurgency task force.

Malaya pointed out that it would be improper for the government to abolish the anti-insurgency task force at this time.