MANILA — Vice-President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte has been designated as the co-vice chairman of the country's anti-insurgency task force following their executive committee meeting on Wednesday, officials said.

Duterte will be the co-vice chairman of National Security Adviser Eduardo Año based on the revamped setup of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).

"Her... commitment in the cause of the NTF-ELCAC will undoubtedly be invaluable to the task force and we thank her for accepting the challenge," Año told reporters during a briefing in Malacañang.

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Asked how her role would be delineated from him, he said, "there is no such thing."

"We only have one secretariat and we always coordinate, we always meet, and we always talk to each other. The secretariat is preparing all the directives, memo, agenda for any meeting," the official said.

"I have worked with Vice-President Sara Duterte before... there will be no problem to us working together," he added.

The official said the Vice-President was well-experienced on the matter as a mayor of Davao City.

Duterte's insights will also be a "big help" in supervising peace and development in several regions, according to Año.

"Ang kanyang mga experiences ay magagamit niya para mai-share ang best practices na puwedeng magamit ng mga ahensya na involved dito sa NTF-ELCAC," he said.

Jonathan Malaya, assistant director-general of the National Security Council, said the "new organization" of the NTF-ELCAC places the vice-president as the task force's co-vice chairman.

President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. sits as the chairman of the task force, Malaya added.

Meanwhile, Año said under the current administration, they were tasked to "intensify its efforts" after attaining strategic victory against insurgents.

"Sustain the whole-of-nation approach to peace and development to prevent communist-terrorist, their front organizations, and other lawless elements from recruiting, regrouping, and regaining power," said the official.

The NTF-ELCAC was created through Executive Order No. 70 signed by former president Rodrigo Duterte in 2018, father of the Vice-President.

Before stepping down from office, Duterte said NTF-ELCAC addressed the decades-old communist insurgency.

However, the task force also drew flak for accusing activists, universities, journalists, health workers, government critics, and several celebrities of working with communist rebels.

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