Robredo backs NTF-ELCAC but says it shouldn't harass, red-tag
MANILA, Philippines — Presidential aspirant and Vice President Leni Robredo on Monday said she was open to resuming peace talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines but claimed her stand on the government's controversial anti-insurgency task force never flip-flopped.
Robredo earlier called for the abolition of the red-tagging National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict but later on claimed she supported its mandate.
Speaking at a press briefing after a meeting at Harold’s Hotel in Cebu City, the vice president said that her stand was always consistent. She said the task force should be more localized in its approach.
"I would be open to resuming peace talks, but for me, it shouldn't just be a national [approach] because a lot of different places have different reasons why insurgency abounds. For me a lot of the core issues will be addressed if the discussion is much more localized... Also, I agree with the help that is being given to really incentivizing barangays with the Barangays Development Fund, I’m all for it," she said in mixed Filipino and English.
"Nothing has changed in my statements. Even before, I already said that I was for a whole of nation approach in solving insurgency. I've said it so many times already but I'm saying I'm not against the mandate of this whole of nation approach. But I am against the way NTF-ELCAC has been red-tagging, the way the task force has been used to go beyond the mandate that the task force has been given."
In an earlier meeting with military officials, Robredo claimed that she supports the mandate of President Rodrigo Duterte’s controversial anti-communist task force, but the “careless” statements of its members put the body in a bad light.
The Commission on Human Rights had issued a warning against the practice of red-tagging, which it said "violates the constitutional guarantee of presumption of innocence and may have serious implications on the security and movement of individuals and groups involved."
A report by the United Nations in June has also said that the narrative that critics of the government are linked to communist rebels has become “increasingly institutionalized and normalized in ways that will be very difficult to reverse."
"What I don't agree with is if the task force becomes so powerful that it is already used harass. For me personally, I have been at the receiving end of red-tagging, and it's not something that we should treat lightly," Robredo said.
"From the very start, I always said that a whole of nation approach is the way to go. But I don't agree when their identifying is so subjective. For me, the NTF-ELCAC should be beyond politics. It should not be used to harass political opponents."
— Franco Luna
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