A Shield for Impunity: A Statement on the Proposed Anti-Red-Tagging Bill

July 2, 2025

The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) expresses profound concern over the recently filed bill in Congress seeking to criminalize “red-tagging.” While framed as a safeguard for democratic rights, this legislation risks becoming a shield for impunity, enabling those who exploit our freedoms to perpetuate violence against the Filipino people.

At its core, this bill threatens to stifle the very institutions tasked with protecting the nation from the dangers of insurgency and violent extremism. It seeks to criminalize what, in many cases, is the articulation of facts—facts supported by years of intelligence operations, sworn testimonies of former rebels, and the lived experiences of communities once held captive by armed propaganda.

There is a deliberate effort to distort the public’s perception of the NTF-ELCAC, portraying it as a repressive entity when, in truth, it stands as one of the most inclusive and community-driven peace-building initiatives in our nation’s history. Far from suppressing dissent, the task force has brought peace to 9,336 formerly conflict-affected barangays, facilitated the reintegration of thousands of former rebels, and pursued the proscription of the CPP-NPA while holding it accountable for its decades-long atrocities. Across 51 provinces, localized peace engagements and transformation programs are actively safeguarding communities from the resurgence of communist terrorist groups.

On the development front, the Barangay Development Program has invested ₱36.823 billion in 4,830 cleared barangays, with 4,506 more communities slated for inclusion from 2026 to 2028. Through 749 Serbisyo Caravans, ₱230 million has been allocated for sitio electrification, while the Department of Public Works and Highways has implemented over ₱10 billion worth of infrastructure projects in conflict-affected areas. New initiatives like the Peace Farm (DA) and Geospatial Monitoring (DENR) complement ongoing LGU capacity-building efforts, ensuring that the root causes of insurgency—poverty, isolation, and neglect—are not merely addressed but eradicated.

These achievements were not born of fear-mongering but of facts, multi-sectoral collaboration, and the courage to confront uncomfortable truths about how armed struggle is sustained by deceptive networks operating in plain sight. To suggest that exposing these truths—particularly when done by former rebels, community leaders, and security professionals—is a crime, is to demand silence in the face of violence.

While malicious and baseless labeling is indefensible, this proposed bill fails to distinguish between reckless accusations and legitimate disclosures grounded in national security intelligence and judicial testimony. It threatens to criminalize warnings issued in good faith and risks being weaponized by those who have mastered the art of playing the victim while enabling terrorism under the guise of legality.

We must ask: Where was this outrage when children were indoctrinated into communist armed struggle in so-called Lumad schools? When youth leaders from legal democratic organizations ended up on NPA casualty lists? When extortion masquerading as revolutionary taxation plagued rural communities? When victims of sexual abuse were silenced and gaslighted to protect the leaders of aboveground organizations? The loudest voices calling for this bill have been conspicuously silent in condemning the CPP-NPA-NDF’s continued acts of violence.

The NTF-ELCAC remains steadfast in its commitment to peace built on truth, not on selective silence. We stand ready to engage in dialogue with lawmakers but urge Congress to craft legislation that safeguards rights without undermining the nation’s defenses against deception and insurgency. We will not be silenced by bad faith, nor will we be deterred by narratives that seek to turn protectors into perpetrators.

If the goal is to protect democracy, then we must ensure that the Filipino people are shielded not only from wrongful accusations but also from those who wear democracy as a mask while sharpening the tools of subversion behind closed doors.

Undersecretary Ernesto C. Torres Jr.

Executive Director, National Secretariat

National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict