Pinoys want NTF-ELCAC to continue ops–survey
ABOUT 56 percent of Filipinos support the continuation of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict NTF-ELCAC), lobbying and campaign firm Publicus Asia Inc. said, citing the results of its recent survey.
Publicus, also a consultancy company, issued the statement as it rectified its earlier statement that 59 percent of Filipinos favored the NTF-ELCAC to continue its work under the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Admitting its error, the firm said the acceptance rating as shown by the results of its survey should be 56 percent and not 59 percent.
“Earlier today, we released a press release reporting that the total approval rating for ‘continuation of NTF-ELCAC’ on the ‘Pahayag 2022 Second Quarter Survey (June 16-22, 2022)’ was 59 percent,” Publicus said.
“After further validation, the total approval rating for the continuation of NTF-ELCAC on the survey was 56 percent,” it added.
The NTF-ELCAC was created by former President Rodrigo Duterte to spearhead its program of ending communist insurgency by implementing various programs.
The task force, which has the military as its chief implementor, has been duplicated down to the municipal level through the creation and existence of regional, provincial and municipal task forces.
The NTF-ELCAC has been successful, some quarters and groups have claimed, as such they were pushing for the body to be retained under the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.
Publicus said that based on the results of its survey, the 59 percent rating should go for the construction and operation of a nuclear plant in the country, which came in the middle of talks about the possible revival of the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP).
“It is ‘allowing the construction of a nuclear power plant in the Philippines’ that earned a total approval rating of 59 percent on our survey,” the consultancy firm said through lawyer Aureli Sinsuat.
Publicus apologized for the “error.”
Citing safety reasons, some groups ex-pressed opposition to the operation of the BNPP, which was constructed during the term of Marcos’s father, the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos.
Sinsuat said the same survey results showed the appointment of Clarita R. Carlos as national security adviser (NSA) as a ‘game changer’ for NTF-ELCAC, which has the security adviser as its vice chairman and the President being the head.
“Notably, Carlos has publicly questioned the use of red-tagging as a means to combat the communist insurgency. In this context, it is clear that the appointment of Carlos as National Security Adviser is a game changer because the NTF-ELCAC will be much less likely to engage in red-tagging under her leadership,” the lawyer said.
Sinsuat also noted that Carlos’s plan to focus on ‘human security’ as a means to combat the root causes of insurgency is in line with the “wholeof-nation approach” institutionalized by the NTF-ELCAC.
Publicus said the survey was participated by 1,500 registered Filipino voters who were randomly sampled by Purespectrum, a Usbased panel marketplace with multinational presence, from its national panel of more than 200,000 Filipinos.