With a stronger Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and the procedures for its implementation in place, groups suspected of coddling communist rebels are now feeling the heat. Pseudo-right and other cause-oriented institutions that are suspected of having links to radical groups that the law classifies as terror organizations.

Under the ATA, these so-called front organizations of the Communist Party of the Philippines have their finances regulated by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC).

In the Left’s own words, the AMLC actions have immobilized above-ground groups.

A non-government organization involved in disaster relief but suspected of providing indirect financing to the armed rebellion halted operations after the AMLC froze its accounts.

Now it is complaining to its foreign financiers and the international media, accusing the government of red tagging that resulted in AMLC blocking its bank accounts.

Not only did the AMLC freeze the accounts of the NGO but also, in most cases, the personal bank accounts of the group’s officials.

The banks also severed access of the withheld accounts to transfers from foreign funders.

This is where the front organizations feel the pain the most since their main sources of financing are woke and rich European groups.

A controversial anti-terrorism law was passed in 2020, giving a newly created Anti-Terrorism Council the power to designate groups as terrorists, detain them, or freeze their assets without charges. The AMLC, which is under the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, is responsible for countering terrorism financing.

The front organizations of the revolutionaries alleged the government is using the ATA to quell legitimate dissent.

Since the release of the guidelines last January, a raft of rights groups had their and their officers’ bank deposits withheld.

The AMLC also acts on the group’s sources of financing if several of its members are designated by the Anti-Terrorism Council as “terrorist” suspects.

Those who received money from suspected conduits of the armed insurgents were also suspended, widening the swath of the crackdown.

Several of the AMLC subjects approached UN Special Rapporteurs to complain about the “weaponization” of the counter-terrorism law against “humanitarian workers.”

A common grumble is that the AMLC actions were done without prior notice. “We didn’t see it coming,” one of the officials of the left-wing groups said.

AMLC actions are unannounced to prevent a suspect organization from siphoning off the funds.

“They’ve been freezing funds of anyone without giving substance to their accusations. They are judicially harassing us,” according to an officer of the AMLC-targeted organization.

The target of criticism is the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), which the left-wingers claim is the proponent of red tagging.

The NTF-ELCAC has been credited with weakening the communist movement through localized peace engagements.

Taking out the NTF-ELCAC thus was logical for the legal counterparts of the CPP-New People’s Army since the strategy of NTF-ELCAC had practically crippled the insurgents.

Worries about other so-called progressive groups are rising as the government has centered its campaign on cutting the financing of terrorist organizations along with the prosecution of suspected terrorists.

Many admit that they are getting huge financing from European groups and if these are blocked, the groups “would be paralyzed.”

Hiding behind the charges of red tagging, the terrorist financing conduits are now seeking court action to unlock their bank accounts, which is unfortunate as they seek succor from the system that they seek to destabilize.