Cocopea quits NTF-Elcac, cites academic freedom
Inquirer file photo
MANILA, Philippines — Barely three months after it joined the government’s anticommunist task force, the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (Cocopea), which has a membership of 1,500 private schools nationwide, announced its withdrawal from the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) to “preserve the essentiality of academic freedom and the vital role it plays in a democratic society.”
“It was an internal decision which was driven primarily by our setting of priorities in terms of our core advocacy which is education; and secondly, we wanted to preserve the independence of Cocopea as an NGO (nongovernmental organization) in engaging government on many issues, including academic freedom of our institutions,” Cocopea legal counsel Joseph Noel Estrada told the Inquirer in a text message on Monday.
The NTF-Elcac itself had tapped the Cocopea to be one of its members, which was approved in November last year by President Marcos as task force chair.
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The task force said then that it was planning to conduct an “information awareness campaign” in private schools as a way to counter the “terror grooming of organizations like the [Communist Party of the Philippines, New People’s Army, and National Democratic Front].”
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Cocopea’s inclusion in NTF-Elcac was widely criticized because of the task force’s propensity for Red-tagging, or linking activists and rights groups to the communist movement, prompting calls for its abolition.
Article continues after this advertisementBefore the formation of the task force, retired military Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. launched a massive anticommunist campaign in 2018 as he accused 20 private universities and colleges of being “breeding grounds for communists” but without presenting evidence to back his claim.
This particular incident was among those considered by Cocopea in its decision to formally withdraw its membership from NTF-Elcac, according to Estrada.
“No attribution specifically to the task force, but certainly that time in 2018 when around 20 private universities and colleges were tagged as breeding grounds for communists without proper validation and this endangered the security of students and undermined the integrity of these educational institutions …; [this] was considered in our decision,” he told the Inquirer.
“Although there was still no NTF-Elcac then, we do not want to be placed in that situation again and not be able to speak out independently,” he added.
In a statement on Sunday night, the Cocopea said it formally asked the President on Jan. 30 to withdraw its membership from the anticommunist task force.
‘Internal matter’
“After further consultation among its member associations, and upon review of its core advocacies, Cocopea has opted to strengthen its education initiatives by preserving its collaborative role outside of a formal membership in the NTF-Elcac,” the group added.
But it stressed that it “remains one” with the task force, particularly in its “mission to achieve unity, peace, security and socioeconomic development.”
The task force, for its part, said it respected the group’s decision, calling it an “internal matter.” —with a report from Frances Mangosing
