NTF-ELCAC rejects NDF defense of ‘spy-tagging’

The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) on Monday rejected the National Democratic Front’s defense of so-called “spy-tagging,” calling it flawed and dangerous.

NTF-ELCAC executive director Undersecretary Ernesto Torres Jr. said the NDF’s explanation of the practice — which it denies — effectively described the same process it sought to justify.

“In attempting to dismiss spy-tagging as a fabrication, NDF-Negros inadvertently described the very process it sought to deny. It explained how individuals suspected of being government informants were subjected to ‘investigation,’ how accusations were ‘triangulated,’ and how those deemed guilty may face punishment under what it called ‘revolutionary justice,’” Torres said.

The task force said the practice has allegedly led to the deaths of at least 40 civilians since 2025.

Torres said labeling civilians as “spies” and subjecting them to punishment by armed groups outside the legal system constitutes intimidation and violence, regardless of how it is framed.

“There lies precisely the problem. When a civilian is labeled a ‘spy,’ when that accusation is circulated within communities, and when punishment is carried out by an armed group operating outside the Philippine legal system, the reality experienced by ordinary people does not change simply because a different term is used,” he said.

He added that communities are often left to face intimidation, coercion, and, in some cases, killings following such accusations.

“Intimidation, coercion, and in many tragic cases, execution. Calling this process ‘revolutionary justice’ does not make it justice because it merely attempts to wrap violence in ideological language,” Torres said.

The NTF-ELCAC official also argued that the Geneva Conventions do not authorize armed groups to conduct secret investigations or impose punishment without due process.

Even during armed conflict, Torres said, individuals accused of offenses are entitled to fair trial proceedings before recognized courts.

“What the NDF describes is not such a system. It is an internal mechanism where the accuser, investigator, judge, and executioner belong to the same armed organization. To portray such a system as compliant with humanitarian law is not a legal argument but an attempt to legitimize violence through rhetoric,” he said.

Torres stressed that only the Philippine government and its courts have the authority to enforce laws and administer justice.

“No armed group, political party, or self-proclaimed revolutionary authority has the legal power to arrest, try, or execute civilians outside that constitutional framework. Justice in a democratic society does not come from the ‘barrel of a gun’… It comes from courts of law that operate under the Constitution and are bound by due process and the protection of human rights,” he added.