Anti-communist body blasts Khan ‘agenda’
The government, through the Presidential Task Force on Media Security, received the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression.
Pure betrayal was how the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, or NTF-ELCAC, described the outcome of its dialogue with United Nations special rapporteur Irene Khan, where it exhaustively explained the function of the body to no avail.
Khan recommended the abolition of the anti-terrorist agency, which has been hailed as having a pivotal role in reducing the strength of armed insurgents.
NTF-ELCAC executive director, Undersecretary Ernesto Torres Jr., said the supposed rights expert “seemingly visited the Philippines with an agenda.”
“UNSR Irene Khan blindsided the Filipino people,” Torres stressed.
Khan, nonetheless, conducted her investigations using a narrow field of respondents.
In a statement, Torres strongly opposed Khan’s recommendation to abolish the country’s anti-insurgency task force for being “outdated.”
Khan, nonetheless, conducted her investigations using a narrow field of respondents.
Torres said Khan formed her conclusion after conducting a “series of engagements” with anti-government groups, including personalities “who are affiliated with if not members” of the front organizations of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front.
Thus, Khan’s visit to the country was counterproductive, he noted.
“The government, through the Presidential Task Force on Media Security, received the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression with the intent to showcase to her the milestones that have been attained by the government in the field of press freedom and observance of human rights,” Torres said, lamenting Khan’s visit turned out the opposite.
“She was invited here for a different purpose. She seems to have visited with a fixed agenda to undermine and demolish the NTF-ELCAC without understanding its essence. We felt betrayed,” he stressed.
Torres said the NTF-ELCAC was “hijacked” because Khan “allowed herself to be used by those who want the government and the NTF-ELCAC to fail.”
Meddling presence
In a press briefing on Friday, Khan said the foundations of NTF-ELCAC’s creation, through Executive Order 70 issued by then-President Rodrigo Duterte, had changed.
“NTF-ELCAC was established about six years ago in a different context. It is outdated. It does not take into account the ongoing prospects of peace negotiations,” she said.
Torres described Khan’s call for the abolition of the NTF-ELCAC as “a lame attempt to breathe life into a dying terrorist movement.”
The official said Khan arrived at her view that NTF-ELCAC is outdated because she was “ill-informed.”
“The NTF-ELCAC remains as the single most relevant task force in the Philippines whose accomplishments will reverberate across many generations of Filipinos and whose achievements have brought back pride to the Filipinos as a people and as a nation,” he said.
Torres said Khan failed to comprehend the relevance of NTF-ELCAC.
“The NTF-ELCAC rejects Irene Khan’s call for the abolition of the NTF-ELCAC. We take offense in her pronouncements against the Philippine government and the NTF-ELCAC,” he said.
“Should we listen to anyone who betrays us, hijacks our ideas, and empowers the terrorist movement? The answer is a resounding No. Never again,” he added.
“We will not allow any outsider to dictate to us how to fight our wars and to dictate upon us the means to win the peace for our people,” he insisted.
Torres said he is confident the NTF-ELCAC will remain in existence despite Khan’s abolition call.