THE GOVERNMENT’S anti-insurgency task force appealed for respectful exchange of ideas after it was removed from a UST forum over what student activists claimed to be its track record of human rights violations.
The UST Political Science Department’s research forum about “terror grooming” or the radicalization of persons drew flak after news spread of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict’s (NTF-ELCAC) involvement in the event.
The task force has been excluded from the research colloquium after a backlash from various groups, but the event will still push through on Thursday, Nov. 6.
NTF-ELCAC Executive Director Undersecretary Ernesto Torres, Jr. said academic platforms such as the forum to be held in UST, are “essential to addressing concerns about extremist recruitment targeting youth.”
“We reiterate our call for all stakeholders to engage substantively: Attend, listen, and debate ideas respectfully. Universities must remain spaces where challenging truths are examined through reason – not silenced by ideological gatekeeping,” Torres said in a statement released last Tuesday, Nov. 4.
According to Torres, the NTF-ELCAC was not formally involved in the event, which will highlight studies about radicalization and red-baiting or the linking of activists with communist rebels. In the Philippines, “red-baiting” is known by the term “red-tagging.”
“The inclusion of scholarly research and firsthand accounts of radicalization processes provides valuable perspective for safeguarding students,” Torres said.
The colloquium builds on a 2024 initiative that provided students “balanced perspectives on youth radicalization, he added.
“Replicating such forums nationwide empowers educational institutions to fulfill their societal role: equipping youth with knowledge to form independent judgments and resist exploitation,” the official said.
The task force also expressed concern over what it described as the attempts by the Kabataan Partylist and its allies to discredit the forum through “preemptive accusations of propaganda” and to demand for its cancellation.
Torres, a retired military general, said such efforts to restrict academic discourse “contradict claims of supporting democracy and dissent.”
“Intimidation of institutions hosting diverse viewpoints undermines the intellectual pluralism that universities exist to protect,” he added.
In a Facebook post, the Kabataan Partylist claimed that the NTF-ELCAC had sought to launch a “red-tagging forum.”
“The students did not allow it because it is a threat to their security and their university will be used to spread fake news,” it said in Pilipino.
In a separate online post, the UST chapter of Anakbayan said any platform given to NTF-ELCAC “contradicts academic freedom and critical thinking.”
“But let it firmly be stated, NTF-ELCAC is not just part of the government, it is the government’s terror and fascist apparatus,” the group said.
“Red-taggers, murderers, and human rights violators have no place in our universities. Invoking academic freedom to give a platform to entities such as the NTF-ELCAC is a bastardization of academic freedom,” it added.
- The forum titled “Terror Grooming: The Philippine Experience,” aims to bring together experts and stakeholders to tackle issues and policies on red-baiting and insurgency.
The UST Research Center for Social Sciences and Education has withdrawn its participation from the event, which was organized by the Political Science Forum in partnership with the Faculty of Arts and Letters and the National Security Council.
UST Political Science Chair Assoc. Prof. Dennis Coronacion has given an assurance that his department would never allow its resources and manpower to be used for government initiatives and programs that curtail freedom and violate human rights. F
