True Care Demands Accountability

July 21, 2025

The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) stands firmly behind the powerful statement issued by the Ata-Manobo Tribal Council of Elders and the Indigenous Political Structure of Talaingod on July 15, 2025. Their testimony cuts through the false narrative portraying the November 2018 incident as a “rescue.” The actions of Satur Ocampo, France Castro, and their co-conspirators constituted a reckless, ideologically-driven operation that endangered vulnerable children and violated the sacred authority of Talaingod’s ancestral leaders.

The July 2024 ruling by the Tagum Regional Trial Court was not a “criminalization of care.” It was a necessary affirmation of a fundamental principle: you cannot protect children by deliberately exposing them to peril. The defendants’ actions – spiriting away minors in darkness, through heavy rains and treacherous terrain, without parental consent or even informing their families and tribal elders – are antithetical to genuine care. This was exploitation, plain and simple.

Despite the court’s clear verdict, we now witness a coordinated campaign to discredit this decision, framing it as persecution or “lawfare.” If this were merely humanitarian concern, critical questions demand answers:

• Who authorized their intervention?

• Why deliberately bypass the established indigenous governance structures?

• Why transport the children to the politically charged UCCP Haran evacuation center instead of official agencies like the Department of Education (DepEd) or the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)?

The relentless effort by the national democratic movement to sanctify these illegal and dangerous actions is revealing. As former rebels have consistently testified – under oath and without coercion in Senate inquiries and public forums – the Salugpungan schools were not innocent institutions. They were established and operated by the CPP-NPA-NDF as recruitment and indoctrination centers. Former students, teachers, and administrators have detailed how these schools normalized NPA violence, bred cynicism towards government institutions, and groomed Lumad youth for radicalization.

This reality is corroborated internationally. UN investigations since 2023 have explicitly recognized the vulnerability of children in isolated indigenous communities to recruitment and grooming within such schools. These reports urge governments, including the Philippines, to prosecute those responsible for child recruitment. Overturning the conviction of Ocampo, Castro, and their cohorts would not only ignore these grave findings but also embolden efforts to resurrect these dangerous pipelines under a false banner of legitimacy.

The condemnation by the Ata-Manobo Tribal Council transcends these 13 individuals. It is a crucial defense against the alarming push to reopen schools that served as gateways to the armed underground. The elders’ profound wariness is justified: these “alternative learning centers” were conduits to violence and indoctrination. Allowing their return, coupled with impunity for Ocampo et al., risks reigniting the very cycle of loss and conflict the Talaingod community courageously resisted.

The Philippine government is committed to providing genuine, inclusive, and respectful education in Talaingod. We are building accredited schools, like the recent completion in Sitio Nalubas, Barangay Palma Gil. These are the legitimate alternatives we champion – not the shadow classrooms of the CPP-NPA-NDF.

We call upon all peace-loving Filipinos and genuine human rights advocates to stand with the Ata-Manobo Tribal Council. Defend the hard-won progress our Lumad communities in Mindanao are achieving. Reject attempts to undermine justice and endanger our children. Stand firm for accountability, stand with Talaingod, and stand for the future of our indigenous youth.

Undersecretary Ernesto C. Torres Jr.

Executive Director, National Secretariat

National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict