The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) on Wednesday hit back at the human rights organization Karapatan, accusing the group of distorting reality and ignoring a recruitment pipeline that allegedly funnels young activists into the underground communist movement.

NTF-ELCAC executive director Ernesto Torres Jr. said Karapatan’s recent criticisms of the government agency expose the “distorted morality” of organizations that condemn the state while remaining silent on rebel atrocities.

“The latest statement bears the unmistakable trademark of the CPP-NPA-NDF ecosystem: deny responsibility, romanticize death, rewrite narratives, weaponize grief, and convert every tragedy into propaganda,” Torres said.

He was referring to the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People’s Army (NPA) and the National Democratic Front.

The task force’s remarks follow allegations by Karapatan that the government is driving rebel recruitment through state repression and the controversial practice of “red-tagging,” or labeling critics as communist sympathizers.

Torres dismissed Karapatan’s claims as hypocritical, pointing to what he described as the group’s silence on internal rebel purges, executions of suspected spies, extortion and attacks on civilians and security forces in conflict areas.

According to Torres, the central issue is a systematic process of radicalization that transforms legal activism into armed struggle. “People do not suddenly wake up one morning and become armed insurgents,” he said. “There is a process. There is a pipeline.”

To support the task force’s claims, Torres cited several public records and past media reports of individuals linked to both legal activist spaces and underground armed networks.

Among those cited were Alexandrea Pacalda and Glendhyl Malabanan, whom authorities identified in 2021 as Karapatan members who later participated in armed rebel activities.

Torres also pointed to instances where former regional leaders of the rights group allegedly posted bail or raised funds for captured communist leaders in the southern Mindanao and Negros regions.