Human Rights Day: NTF ELCAC Calls Out CPP-NPA’s Betrayal

December 10, 2025

As the world marks International Human Rights Day, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict reaffirms a truth that has guided our work from day one: peace is not merely the absence of conflict—it is the presence of justice, dignity, and respect for every Filipino life.

Over the past years, we have seen entire communities rise from fear toward hope, thousands of barangays break free from decades of intimidation, and families finally reclaim the security that was stolen from them by an armed movement that betrayed its own people. These gains were achieved not through repression, but by upholding human rights, strengthening local governance, and empowering communities long abandoned in the margins of development.

But even on this day, when the world celebrates the inherent worth of every human being, the CPP–NPA–NDF refuses to confront the darkest truth of its legacy:

That thousands of Filipinos—farmers, students, Lumad, activists, even their own cadres—were executed in cold blood through the barbaric practice of “spy-tagging.”

We challenge the CPP–NPA–NDF’s remaining leaders, front organizations, and ideological apologists:

If you truly believe in human rights, then denounce the killings your movement ordered. Condemn the executions your doctrine justified. Admit the unspeakable suffering your so-called revolution inflicted on the very people it claimed to liberate.

The Filipino people deserve this honesty. The victims and their families deserve this justice.

As a nation, we must remain vigilant. The peace we enjoy today—felt in once-conflict-stricken sitios, in classrooms finally safe for children, in barangays where commerce now hums—is a peace that must be sustained, protected, and deepened.

We will do this with unwavering respect for human rights, with transparency, accountability, and a firm commitment to the rule of law.

There is no contradiction between security and rights—the true strength of a democracy lies in its ability to defend both.

On this Human Rights Day, we call on all freedom-loving Filipinos to stand with us:

Rally behind the banner of unity, peace, and development.

Join us in building a nation where progress is earned brick by brick, school by school, kilometer by kilometer of paved roads—reaching even the farthest sitios and most forgotten communities.

Let us prove, through collective action and shared resolve, that lasting reform is not born from violence or ideology, but from the steady, patient, and humane work of a nation determined to rise together.

Human rights are not slogans. They are responsibilities.

And today, we renew that responsibility to every Filipino—

to protect life, to advance dignity, and to ensure that no child will ever again grow up under the shadow of senseless and directionless armed struggle.

For peace. For unity. For a just and humane Philippines.

USec Ernesto C Torres Jr

Executive Director, NTF ELCAC