No red-tagging, just naming CPP allies – Marcos defense chief

MANILA, Philippines — Retired Gen. Jose Faustino Jr., president-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s incoming defense secretary, will not tolerate red-tagging.

Faustino, however, is quick to note that baring the truth while exposing groups in alliance with the Communist Party of the Philippines – New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) is a different matter.

“We do not and we will not condone red-tagging... What we have there is we are just telling the truth, we are unmasking,” he said in English and Filipino in an interview with One News last Saturday.

Faustino said he and Marcos have had talks about the issue of red-tagging, for which some groups have criticized the military and the Duterte administration.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), which he headed from July to November last year, was not red-tagging groups, according to Faustino.

He pointed out that the military was “just disseminating (information on) organizations identified by (CPP founding chairman Jose Maria Sison) during the time when he said which groups were affiliated with his organization.”

The former AFP chief disclosed that he has also presented the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) to Marcos, who appreciated and agreed to continue the same in an effort to sustain initiatives aimed at ending the country’s decades-old insurgency problem.

Faustino said the Duterte government definitely had gains, considering how the program, which presents a whole-of-nation and whole-of-government approach in dealing with the NPA, through ELCAC became a game-changer.

The NTF-ELCAC, implemented under the outgoing administration, focused on bringing development and addressing the needs of the people to prevent them from being exploited by the enemy into convincing people to rebel against the government.

Faustino gave assurance that efforts to have communist rebels and supporters return to the fold of government and live new and peaceful lives will also continue.

Asked if Marcos has given any marching orders, he said there is no specific directive yet, but he “will focus on pronouncements of the president-elect on what direction he wants to take” as all policy comes from him as the president and commander-in-chief.

“I will be guided by his vision of a strong nation through national unity, economic recovery and nation building,” Faustino said, adding that Marcos wants the government and all of its departments coordinate, work with each other and move as one.

The incoming defense chief added that the AFP modernization would also continue, which is one of the good things started by previous administrations that should be sustained.