Clarita Carlos
There will be no more Red-tagging in the administration of President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. if the appointed National Security Adviser (NSA) Clarita Carlos can help it.
鈥淚 have repeatedly declared that Red-tagging should be stopped because it makes no sense labeling people,鈥� Carlos said on Friday at the Laging Handa briefing. 鈥淔or me, as a social scientist, when you use labels, that means you are a lazy person because you don鈥檛 know how else to [identify] a person.鈥�
The retired professor of the University of the Philippines (UP) said the government should invest its resources on 鈥渋ssues of injustice, lack of opportunity and the huge inequality between the poor and the rich.鈥�
鈥淣ational security is not just about military engagements and things outside our oceans, beyond our shores. It is really about human security, energy security, food security and the like,鈥� she said.
Carlos also said in an interview with ANC鈥檚 鈥淗eadstart,鈥� that labeling people as communists was 鈥渘ot productive鈥� and had not done much to end the 50-year-old insurgency.
NTF-Elcac
She said the government鈥檚 energy should be used for 鈥渁ddressing inequality and lack of opportunities鈥� for the poor and the marginalized.
鈥淵ou should work on the problems on the ground. Provide them livelihood, give their children the opportunity to go to school and flourish as individuals. Isn鈥檛 that human security?鈥� she said.
As the next NSA replacing Hermogenes Esperon Jr., Carlos will serve as vice chair of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac), a body notorious for tagging activists, students, journalists, lawmakers, even bookstores, as communists. The President chairs the task force.
Carlos will also take the post of director general of the National Security Council (NSC), which is in charge of coordinating and integrating plans and policies involving national security. At the Laging Handa briefing, she urged critics not to immediately judge her capability as NSA, a position usually held by former military officials or politicians with a background in national defense.
If confirmed as NSA, she will be the first woman to hold the post, and the third civilian after Norberto Gonzales and former UP president Emanuel Soriano, who served during the Arroyo and the first Aquino administrations, respectively.
Asked how she would proceed if NTF-Elcac officials continued to engage in Red-tagging, Carlos said in jest: 鈥淲ell, if they have a contract, I will allow their contract to lapse.鈥�
But Carlos said she was 鈥渂lind,鈥� having yet to be briefed by Esperon and, 鈥渆xcept for publicly available documents of the NSA and the NSC,鈥� ignorant of 鈥渢he inside dynamic of that office.鈥�
She said she wanted a briefing 鈥渁s soon as possible.鈥�
Empirical evidence
Citing her social science background, Carlos said the persistent inequality between the rich and poor would always be a source of political violence.鈥淚f you kill the future of a person, that person will definitely take up arms. Is that too difficult to understand?鈥� she said, adding:
鈥淓mpirical evidence 鈥� shows that the military route never works, so we should stop it. We look stupid doing the same things that do not work. We should do what works.鈥�
Should Carlos鈥� views be adopted by Marcos Jr.鈥攚hose father, the late former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., imposed martial law in 1972 to stem a purported budding communist rebellion鈥攊t would be a major shift from President Duterte鈥檚 strategy of fully eliminating 鈥渃ommunist terrorists鈥� in the country.
The military and the police vowed to end the insurgency before the end of Mr. Duterte鈥檚 term at the end of June. Still, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), its armed wing the New People鈥檚 Army (NPA), and its political wing the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) have yet to be defeated in the government鈥檚 war against insurgency.
No more peace talks
But for Carlos, peace negotiations with the CPP-NPA-NDFP are over.
鈥淲e鈥檙e done with peace talks,鈥� she told ANC. 鈥淲e have agreement on certain things. Let鈥檚 proceed with that. We already know what to do.鈥�
Carlos said, however, that the insurgents should not be excluded but invited 鈥渢o be part [of the] change.鈥�
She suggested that the government empower local peace councils鈥斺�渢he ones nearest to these insurgents who really want to have jobs, to have education, to dream to be journalists, architects, social scientists like me.鈥�
As NSA, Carlos will also concurrently sit as vice chair of the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC), which is authorized to classify groups or persons as terrorists under Republic Act No. 11479 or the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020.
In 2021, the ATC designated the CPP-NPA-NDFP as terrorist organizations. But the case to proscribe them as terrorist groups remains pending at the Manila Regional Trial Court.
After the Marcos dictatorship was toppled in 1986, President Corazon Aquino鈥檚 administration began peace talks with the CPP-NPA-NDFP.
The talks were pursued by the next administrations, but collapsed less than a year after Mr. Duterte assumed the presidency.
EO 70
Rights activists aired generally positive reactions to Carlos鈥� stance against the Red-tagging by the NTF-Elcac, which was formed under the 2018 Executive Order No. 70 adopting a 鈥渨hole-of-nation鈥� approach in addressing the insurgency.
If Carlos succeeds in stopping Red-tagging, 鈥渢hen we might see some improvement in how this campaign is enforced by the government,鈥� Carlos Conde, senior researcher at the Asia division of the New York-based Human Rights Watch, told the Inquirer.
Conde said the NTF-Elcac鈥檚 Red-tagging was 鈥渘ot in line鈥� with its mandate 鈥渂ecause of its often-brutal impact on the rights of individuals and on the democratic space.鈥�
He said Carlos should 鈥渦se her leadership of the NTF-Elcac to ensure that the counterinsurgency campaign upholds and respects human rights and civil liberties.鈥�
鈥楾ranslate to policy
Cristina Palabay, secretary general of Karapatan, said Carlos should 鈥渁ct to rescind鈥� EO 70 and the 鈥渨hole-of-nation鈥� approach to the insurgency.
Palabay said such a strategy was employed as early as the Arroyo and second Aquino administrations, and 鈥渇ailed miserably.鈥�
鈥淚t is a sugarcoated militarist approach patterned after the US Counterinsurgency Guide that has resulted in extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture, indiscriminate bombings and threats against citizens, especially those exercising their right to political dissent,鈥� she said in a statement. Bagong Alyansang Makabayan welcomed Carlos鈥� stance. 鈥淏ut we need to see it translated into policy鈥� that is 鈥渁dopted by the military establishment from its officials down to the lower ranks,鈥� said its secretary general Renato Reyes.
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