‘Don’t touch NTF-ELCAC,’ Pinoys tell PBBM

MAJORITY of Filipinos want the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) to continue with its ‘whole-of-nation/whole-of-government’ campaign strategy to finally put an end to the over 5-decades of communist terrorism and deception that contributed greatly to the country’s lack of national unity and economic underdevelopment.

This was the strong message they sent to President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong/BBM’ Romualdez Marcos, Jr., based on the result of the ‘2022 Second Quarter Survey’ of ‘Publicus Asia, Inc.’ where 56 percent of the respondents approved of the task force’s continuation.

Created by President Rodrigo Duterte under Executive Order (EO) 70 on December 4, 2018, the task force proved crucial in hastening the surrender and neutralization of more than 25,000 officials, fighters and mass supporters of the Communist Party of the Philippines, its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA) and its umbrella front organization, the National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) since the start of the Duterte administration.

Huge areas of the country, particularly in Mindanao, the so-called “last bastion” of CPP strength and influence in the country, have been ‘liberated’ from the deception and terrorism of the CPP, including Davao region, the home region of Duterte.

As a result, from the 89 identified CPP-NPA ‘guerilla fronts’ (GFs) at the start of the Duterte administration, this has now dwindled to just 23 GFs composed of some 2,000 NPAs.

The ‘WON/WOG’ strategy employed by the task force proved effective in convincing Filipinos, especially in remote areas of the country, to disassociate themselves from the communist terrorist groups (CTGs) and to once again trust the government in the delivery of badly-needed social services such as paved roads, electricity, clean water, education, health services and livelihood opportunities under a peaceful environment.

Significantly, most of agencies covered in the Publicus survey and which also earned a trust rating of more than 50 percent from the respondents are direct partners of the NTF-ELCAC, such as: Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TEDA), 72 percent, the Armed Forces (AFP), 69 percent, Philippine National Police (PNP), 54 percent, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), 53 percent, Department of Education, 53 percent and, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), 62 percent, among others.

Thru the task force, Filipinos are now more aware of the deceptive character of many of the CPP’s front organizations that have been masquerading as ‘legal mass organizations’ but are actually organizations created by the CPP to recruit more Filipinos as fighters for its violent armed struggle aimed at creating a ‘communist Philippines.’

The true nature of these organizations has been confirmed by former CPP cadres who have surrendered to the government and were recruited to join mainly as NPA fighters thru them. They include the so-called ‘Makabayan Bloc’ in Congress composed of Anakpawis, Bayan Muna, GABRIELA, Kabataan and the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT).

Thru the NTF-ELCAC’s uncompromising ‘information war’ with various CPP front personalities, Filipinos also became conscious that CPP penetration of Philippine society comprises all social sectors, particularly the youth and the indigenous peoples (IPs), who bear the brunt of CPP exploitation as NPA fighters and as a source of funding from abroad.

Overall, with the help of the task force, the government has identified 16 CPP underground mass organizations (UGMOs) and which all have their corresponding ‘legal mass organizations’ working ‘above ground’ in agitating and organizing the public to rally against the government.

Looking back, it is the absence of a similar mechanism like the NTF-ELCAC that contributed to political turmoil in the country since the CPP’s founding in 1968 and the illegal removal of two elected presidents, Ferdinand Edralin Marcos in 1986 and Joseph Ejercito Estrada in 2001.

That the NTF-ELCAC has made itself important in the minds of Filipinos despite operating for less than 4 years is shown also in the survey.

Of the respondents, only 13 percent ‘strongly disapprove/disapprove’ of the task force while 56 percent ‘approve/strongly approve’ of its operations under the Duterte administration.