Sara Duterte = enemy of the people
Joint Statement with Anakbayan USA, Kabataan Alliance, and Defend Lumad Struggles
May 2023
With her new appointment as the co vice chair of the NTF ELCAC (National Taskforce to End Local Communist Armed Conflict), Sara Duterte’s status as an enemy of the people is even more apparent!
Formed in 2018 under her fathers presidency, NTF ELCAC has been responsible for bogus claims of red-tagging activists and everyday people. Anyone who is critical of the Philippine government is a target of their lies, which are then followed by harassment, forced disappearances, trumped up charges, and even extra judicial killings.
There is no sign that these attacks will let up with Sara Duterte in leadership, who called the current thrust of the NTF ELCAC as “a show of force”:
“This is a show of force — a clear, strong, and powerful statement and warning — against the enemies of the state who slaughter civilians and Indigenous Peoples, abduct and murder and execute members of our security forces, and attempt to pin down our progress as a nation through their ideals anchored on brainwashing, fear, and terrorism.”
In truth, it is the NTF ELCAC itself that has been guilty of all of these things -- an instrument of fascism and death in the Philippines, as well as a drain on public funds which are supposed to be for the support and progress of the Filipino people. The Philippine government allotted nearly 10 billion pesos to the taskforce in the 2023 budget -- which could instead be used to:
Cover the daily livelihoods of 48,000+ families in the NCR region for one entire year
Or Cover the college tuition for 181,000+ students in the Philippines for one year
Or Give out desktop computers to 550,000+ students to support online distance learning How much would online distance learning devices cost? (rappler.com)
Worse still, it is evident that Duterte will interrelate this new role with the NTF ELCAC with her role as the Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary. Before the appointment, she already had a history of red-tagging -- from the Alliance of Concerned Teachers to the Salugpongan Schools, which operated from 2007-2018 and provided over a thousand Lumad students with culturally relevant education related to farming and their indigenous practices. As the mayor of Davao in 2019, Duterte forced the closure of the schools and justified the deprivation of the right to education by making these students out to be terrorists. Students then attended “bakwit,” or evacuation, schools, which too had to later close under the threats of constant state repression. Unable to continue their education, many students are now out of school youth, working in the cities or farming in the countryside.
The militarization of these schools had an intense impact on the emotional and physical well-being of the Lumad youth. And still do. Last year, state forces killed two beloved Lumad teachers, Jurain Ngujo and Chad Booc. Later in July, the government arrested two Lumad brothers, Mawing Pangadas and Ismael Pangadas on trumped up charges. They are still in jail to this day. Can’t Duterte see that her redtagging actions have had damaging impacts on the Lumad and are in direct conflict with the mission of the DepEd to provide safe learning environments for its students and teachers?
What else can we expect from a DepEd Secretary who was never a teacher herself?
What we can expect is that Duterte will continue to weaponize red-tagging to undermine and contradict teachers, who are striving for safe working environments and to make quality education available for their students. We can expect that there will be restrictions and censorship on the content of what students are taught. We can expect that education will no longer foster independent thinking, necessary for the true progress of our country and our people. And we can expect that the crackdown on those who speak out will increase.
Philippine History is not being offered in the Philippine education system, which paves more room for misinformation to spread. Learning our history should allow our youth to learn the problems of our society and be able to solve them for the betterment of our country. Instead, Duterte prioritizes her solution to our problems through militarizing our schools, calling for mandatory ROTC and red-tagging of students and teachers demanding for better schools.
As youth and students, we demand that the NTF ELCAC be abolished! We demand that the taskforce budget be reallocated to the true needs of students and the education sector! We demand that we be allowed to learn without fear of censorship or retaliation. We demand that the Lumad students and teachers who have bore the brunt of red-tagging be freed!
Abolish the NTF - ELCAC!
Education not militarization!
Take back our education!
Defend Lumad Struggles!
Rise 4 Rights! Rise 4 Education!
Fight for Pro-People mass-oriented Education!
