ON Tuesday, the National Task Force to end Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) participated in a gathering organized by the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) to welcome the official visit of United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Opinion, Irene Khan, to the Philippines.
During the event, the NTF-ELCAC and other government agencies discussed the situation of freedom of opinion and expression in the country.
And on Thursday, NTF-ELCAC Usec. Ernesto Torres, Jr. shared some of the topics discussed in the meeting during a virtual forum, including the issue of red tagging in the country, as questioned by the UN official.
According to Usec. Torres, there is no such thing as red-tagging in the Philippines.
He explained that it is the government’s mandate to provide information to Filipinos for the betterment of each community in the Philippines.
“In brief, I told her that, especially in the government, we are mandated by our constitution to protect and serve the Filipino people. Part of protecting the Filipino people is providing them with the right information about certain organizations, and certain individuals so that the Filipino people, particularly the youth and those in vulnerable communities, can exercise an informed choice,” according to Usec. Ernesto Torres, Jr., Exec. Dir. National Secretariat, NTF-ELCAC.
The NTF-ELCAC official emphasized that communist terrorist groups exploit the privilege and freedom of speech to tarnish the government and sow discord.
“Somehow we were able to put across the message to the Rapporteur that the CPP-NPA-NDF and other terrorist groups operating in our country are making use of this space, the freedom of expression and opinion, for their malicious purposes, for their malicious intent to incite youth, students, and other vulnerable individuals to commit actions that would border into violent extremism,” Torres added.
Meanwhile, in an exclusive interview with SMNI News, Col. Louie Dema-ala, Spokesperson of the Philippine Army, stated that the government’s dissemination of information, particularly by the Philippine Army and the NTF-ELCAC regarding insurgency, is an exposition to the public of who the real enemies of the state are.
“All pronouncements of the NTF-ELCAC and the Armed Forces are based on facts, based on information. So, the NTF-ELCAC is just exposing or giving information to the community about certain individuals or certain organizations,” according to Col. Louie Dema-ala, Spokesperson, Philippine Army.
He also emphasized that the Philippine Army does not entertain red tagging.
“Definitely, the Philippine Army does not entertain red tagging, and there has never been red tagging in the Philippine Army,” Dema-ala added.
Regarding the question of where the UN official obtained information about red tagging.
“I cannot go on speculations. Maybe they have their own sources, but for us, the Philippine Army, we do not know where they get [their information,” Dema-ala said.
