It has been 3 years since the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) was created. Since then, the need to abolish it has grown and is needed immediately. Every month that passes with its existence is a month filled with fear and horror, but also with unwavering and undaunted determination to end it.
As ELCAC celebrates its third anniversary, it rejoices in its 3 years of oppression and censorship. It celebrates its 3 years of groundless red-tagging, illegal arrests, extrajudicial killings, and harassment against the Filipino people.
NTF-ELCAC takes pride and pleasure in the numerous aggressions against academic freedom and the safety of students in the country, especially this year.
To remind us of the atrocities this task force has done against academic freedom, shall we take a trip down the 2021 NTF-ELCAC deadly memory lane?
New Year, New Red-Tagging
As we begin 2021, we welcome the repression and the attack on academic freedom as the UP-DND accord, which bars campus militarization, has been terminated.
The Department of National Defense’s (DND) reason for termination was simple: the accord interfered with the investigation of the NTF-ELCAC on communist activity on campuses. Honestly, it was not surprising. With the countless amount of abominations that the government and the ELCAC have done to schools, specifically to UP, the termination was not a matter of if, but a matter of when.
And so, the one thing protecting the students, faculty, and staff of UP from harassment and abuse by the State has been taken away, not that it was observed by the ELCAC in the first place. The difference now, without the accord, is that they can outrightly attack academic freedom without it being against the law more often and increasingly.
The new year, new red-tagging did not end there.
A few days later, the then NTF-ELCAC spokesman Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade said that the military has listed at least 18 colleges and universities in the National Capital Region (NCR) where communist recruitment activities are taking place.
The 18 include top universities such as University of the Philippines (UP), Ateneo De Manila University (ADMU), De La Salle University (DLSU), University of Santo Tomas (UST), Far Eastern University (FEU), Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), and Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) among others.
The schools released statements denouncing the shameless allegations of the task force. Such actions were deemed irresponsible and better yet, ‘getting old’.
NOT a happy valentine
Roses are red, violets are blue if you had a nice valentine’s day celebration, good for you. But not for the students and teachers in Cebu who were arrested by the military on February 15.
Twenty-six Lumad students and teachers from the University of San Carlos (USC) – Talamban Campus were taken into custody by the Central Visayas Police, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on a supposedly regular day for them in school. Nineteen among the 26 were students. The arrest was deemed a ‘rescue operation’ by the local police despite not having sufficient evidence to support their claim.
Take note that all of this happened inside the USC campus — a place of learning and new opportunities, now smeared with the violence of NTF-ELCAC.
This is not the first time that a Lumad school has been attacked. Since 2020, many Lumad schools and communities have been closed forcibly and experienced aerial bombings. Not to mention the harassment and illegal arrests of the students and faculty.
Roses are red, violets are blue, we want to abolish the ELCAC, how about you?
Rainy season, demolition season
Last June 5, 2021, a Lumad school in Sagundaon, Kitaotao, & Bukidnon was reportedly demolished. It was forcibly shut down last 2020.
According to Save Our Schools Network, residents were coerced into demolishing the establishment by the 72nd Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army. If the residents refused, they were told that they could get arrested and face charges.
The Lumads cannot say no because that would mean losing their lives. What the Lumads fear is the military because they are constantly watched as if the soldiers were teachers carefully observing the students while taking an exam. Their communities and homes are guarded 24/7. It’s as if one wrong move and they’ll shoot you down. They did it with many other innocent Lumads before, who’s to say they won’t do it again?
They are terrified, not of the rain and its aftermath or the lack of resources during the rainy season, but of the people who vowed to serve and protect them. They are frightened because the military has been threatening and abusing them.
This is not only an attack against the Lumad schools. It is an attack against academic freedom and the right of students to education.
Alexa, play September by Earth, Wind, and Fire but make it subversive
In an attempt to censor critical learning, the NTF-ELCAC decided to ban ‘subversive’ materials such as books of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).
The books purged in Aklan State University (ASU), Kalinga State University (KSU), and Isabela State University (ISU) contained information on the history of the armed conflict in the Philippines.
This action by the government and the NTF-ELCAC hinders students from learning about the actual roots of the armed conflict and why our country is in the state it is now. It prohibits students from developing critical thinking skills and creating formidable solutions to resolve the said problem.
What exactly does the government consider subversive? Did they clear this up before taking them away from the school libraries?
Like many unanswered questions, we can only draw our own conclusions. Maybe the government does not want a new generation of critical thinkers and activists who refuse to be stepped on and abused by them. Maybe they are scared to ignite the fire of the people to stand up for their rights.
Between you and me, that’s very cowardly of them.
A Christmas gift to the ELCAC
It’s the most wonderful time of the year… for the ELCAC, of course!
To congratulate them for a job well done of abusing and oppressing the people, the Senate and the House of Representatives wrapped up the perfect gift: a 17.1 billion peso budget for 2022, or over a 6 billion increase from the approved budget.
That is 17.1 billion pesos to misspend for the coming year and the perfect tool to continue killing innocent lives, harassing innocent people, closing more schools, and banning more learning materials.
What’s ironic about this is that we’re still in the middle of a pandemic. Where the NTF-ELCAC celebrates, the health workers suffer. Though COVID cases have gone down due to vaccination, there’s the new threat of the Omicron variant. We are facing another possible surge in cases. But the budget for the pandemic isn’t as big as the ELCAC’s, and even if it is, it’s not being utilized properly by the government. Hence, there will be another improper implementation of the lockdowns, a lack of facilities to accommodate the sick, and the cycle that we’ve been going through in the past 2 years will go on and on.
It’s clearer now where the government priorities lie.
Merry Christmas to the fascists!
As the 2021 memory lane comes to an end, we see that the NTF-ELCAC memory lane is a bloody, horrifying path, tainted with the lives of the innocent and surrounded by the cries of its victims. It’s the path manned by NTF-ELCAC, the oppressors, and opportunists — those who proclaim service and protection when all they’re doing is endangering the people and abusing their powers.
And when you look just a little bit closer, observe just a little bit more, you will see that in this path lurks the power-hungry, selfish, and greedy monster, going by the name of Rodrigo Duterte, who paved the way for the opportunists, the monster who basks in the ironic glory of his administration, he who holds the string and controls his puppets, all the while having one in his neck.
It has been 3 years since the creation of the NTF-ELCAC and their memory lane, stained by the overflowing violence, continues to extend further. It’s high time that we do not let them violate our academic freedom and our human rights. We must stand up against the NTF-ELCAC, condemn their actions, and fight for our rights. To them, we say, no more.
#AbolishNTFELCAC
#NotoCampusMilitarization
#DefendUP
Featured image courtesy of CNN.
