President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on Monday expressed hope that the next administration will continue providing support to the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).

This, as Duterte heaped praises on the NTF-ELCAC for its anti-insurgency initiatives that helped maintain peace and order in the country.

“I hope the next administration will continue with this ELCAC,” Duterte said in his prerecorded Talk to the People aired Tuesday morning on state-run PTV-4.

Duterte issued the statement, as he acknowledged the criticisms earned by the NTF-ELCAC.

He lamented that the opposition has been calling for the abolition of the NTF-ELCAC, despite the anti-insurgency task force’s efforts that led to the reintegration of many former rebels into mainstream society.

“Alam mo ‘yang ELCAC sinasaway ng mga kapartido sa labas sa aming grupo (You know, the ELCAC has been criticized by groups outside our party), I mean the opposition or the ones opposing us,” Duterte said. “Itong (This) ELCAC, it’s a very good program. It has helped a lot of the rebels find their way into the mainstream of society.”

Duterte also renewed his call for the communist rebels to surrender, reassuring them that a comfortable life awaits them.

“Mag-surrender na kayo kasi nandiyan ang ELCAC matulungan kayo mga rebelde (To rebels, surrender because ELCAC is there to help you),” he said.

Under Executive Order 70 inked by Duterte Dec. 4, 2018, the NTF-ELCAC is mandated to undertake a whole-of-nation approach to attain “inclusive and sustainable peace” in the country.

The NTF-ELCAC, according to its report released in July 2021, has so far dismantled 16 Guerrilla Fronts and six Regional Guerrilla Units.

It has also provided livelihood training to 194 and skills training to 710 villages.

The report also revealed that a total of 2,701 retooled community support program orientations from 2020 to 2021 have been undertaken in several rebel-infested villages nationwide.

The NTF-ELCAC has also earned the support of 1,715 local government units, with 84 percent of them or 1,436 of them passing a resolution declaring the Communist Party of the Philippines’ (CPP) armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), as persona non grata in their respective localities.

The CPP-NPA is listed as a terror organization by the Philippines, the United States, European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.

The Anti-Terrorism Council also formally designated the CPP’s political wing, the National Democratic Front, as a terrorist group on June 23, 2021, citing it as “an integral and inseparable part” of the NPA that was created in April 1973. (PNA)