Farmers urge VP Leni to meet NTF-ELCAC victims

By Mavic Conde

Farmers from the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) want Vice President Leni Robredo to meet with the victims of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).

The NTF-ELCAC is the Duterte administration’s anti-communist task force.

The request came after her statement of support for the NTF-ELCAC’s mandate, but not the “careless red-tagging” of its members.

“Sana makausap rin ng Bise Presidente ang mga anak at magulang na naulila dahil sa EJK, ang mga kaanak ng mga ibinilanggo na walang sala at ang mga magsasakang biktima ng umiiral na Martial Law sa kanayunan,” KMP chairperson Danilo Ramos said in a news release.

According to Ramos, this disappointed them but they were not surprised, especially that getting the support of the Armed Forces of the Philippines by a presidential aspirant is a dangerous deliance. As proof? “She [had to] clarify her earlier statements regarding the abolition of the NTF-ELCAC,” Ramos said.

Meanwhile, KMP chairman emeritus and Anakpawis chairperson Rafael Mariano, said in the same news release, that their stand on this whole-of-nation anti-insurgency approach is to abolish it.

“Buwagin pa rin ang NTF-ELCAC. Mas malakas at mas mariin naming ipapanawagan ang pagbubuwag sa ahensiyang ito na pahirap lang sa mamamayan,” Mariano said.