NTF-ELCAC tags CHR’s rights abuses claims as baseless

May 24, 2022 JUST IN

BAGUIO CITY (May 24, 2022)—-The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) has debunked claims of alleged human rights violations by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and other personalities as baseless.
In its every Monday virtual press briefing, the NTF-ELCAC said the CHR’s Report on Investigated Killings in Relation to the Anti-Illegal Drug Campaign “is bereft of any factual or legal bases” and “nothing but an attempt to discredit and malign the government … and seeks to push the narrative that the killings were “sanctioned” by the State.”
It further noted that “nowhere in the CHR’s 48-page Report is such conclusion supported by clear evidence – all but mere assumptions and surmises of CHR.”
“Instead of trying to paint a dark picture of the so-called drug war, the CHR should have included, for the purpose of providing proper context, the data on the number of arrests, cases filed in court, the volume of drugs confiscated, the number of drug surrenderers under Oplan Tokhang, the data on those who availed of rehabilitation, those who underwent Community Based Rehabilitation Programs, the Balay Silangan project, and the decrease in the crime rate during the same period”, the NTF-ELCAC said.
It also pointed out that “it needs a case to be filed in court to prove, and not for the CHR to conclude that it is “sanctioned” by the State.”
Undersecretary Severo S. Catura, NTF-ELCAC Spokesperson for International Affairs, Peace Process and Human Rights Concerns, said that while the CHR has “finally” followed its mandate to investigate as it came up with an investigation report on the government’s war on drugs, the commission seemed to be clueless on what should be done next.
“So, what is the next step? The next step is for them to file cases,” Catura said, insisting that the country has a “gold standard” for judicial processes, citing the 43 Ampatuan Massacre convictions as an example.
“Let this CHR Report go to the judicial gold standard,” Catura said, “and let the legal infirmities come out during the discourse.”
He challenged the CHR to refer the report to them and they would set up a “grand national assembly’ where all CHR recommendations will be discussed.
The government task force also dismissed the statement by Filipino-American lady lawyer Loida Nicolas Lewis who it said made “false and baseless accusations against the NTF-ELCAC” during an on-line forum.  “Ms. Lewis ought to know that the Republic of the Philippines is a sovereign state. Its sovereignty emanates from its people and not from any foreign jurisdiction.
Appallingly, as a lawyer, it is elementary for her to know that urging a state to meddle in the internal affairs of another or to commit an internationally wrongful act by misleading it with false accusations is unethical and grossly reprehensible for a member of the bar,” the task force explained.
Lewis is an “obscene face of shameless little brown American” Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy, NTF-ELCAC Spokesperson for Sectoral Concerns blurted out.   “Does she (Lewis) even know what is NTF-ELCAC? Who are dutifully performing their mandate to end the more than 5-decade local communist armed conflict in the country,” Badoy said, as she challenged Lewis to come home and visit the small communities now “breathing fresh air” that were formerly infested by the CPP-NPA.
Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Flosemer Chris Gonzales, Acting NTF-ELCAC Spokesperson on Legal Affairs, on the other hand challenged Lewis to condemn the CPP-NPA if she really wants to help her country.
While the NTF-ELCAC also challenged the University of the Philippines’ President Advisory Council (UP-PAC) to revisit their “critical thinking” when it decried the alleged red-tagging by the task force and called students for “walk out” over the landslide victory of upcoming President Bong Bong Marcos.  “UP is a bastion of critical thinking but calling a walk out is not part of it,” USec Catura said.
Earlier,  the NTF-ELCAC said, “For an institution that prides itself in critical thinking, the UP-PAC’s statement instead showed that they are bereft of any semblance of critical thinking.
The Filipino people, through their vote, have exercised their sovereign right to choose their leaders. The Philippines is a democratic state. We are ruled not by the noisy minority, but by the majority under the rule of law.
We have no appointed monarch; the Filipino people are the monarch and sovereign.”
Artemio A. Dumlao