MANILA — A United Nations expert on climate change and human rights recommended Wednesday the disbandment of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).

UN Special Rapporteur Ian Fry visited parts of the Philippines from Nov. 6 to 15 to meet with various organizations and government officials to look at the situation of the country and how the issue of climate change is being addressed.

“I met with a number of CSOs (civil society organizations) and IPOs (indigenous peoples’ organizations) who told me horrific stories of how they’ve been treated. It is clear it is operating beyond its original mandate and is red tagging people from the community and the IPs. It appears as though that private financial interests are driving ELCAC to do this,” he said.

“There is no reasonable response that ELCAC can say to the fact that, I’ve heard stories of torture, disappearance and EJK of people. This is totally unacceptable. It seems the government has lost control on this military organization and are moving beyond what is considered reasonable.”

Instead, Fry suggested the establishment of a truth and reconciliation process “to deal with the harm that has been caused by the military in the community.”

“There are clearly people who have suffered dramatically as a consequence of the persecution of environmental human rights defenders and there needs to be a process to review the effects of the actions of the military,” Fry said.

Oher instances of alleged human rights abuses noted by Fry included anecdotes of raided houses, church leaders accused of ties the communist movement, and funds frozen due red-tagging.

The UN official said the Philippines ranks only second to Brazil as the worst place in the world as far as the treatment of environmental rights defenders is concerned.

“That’s a serious problem and I think that’s going to seriously affect the international reputation of the Philippines if that continues and if they don’t initiate a process to resolve that rapidly,” he said.

This reputation, will also affect the country’s ability to negotiate climate change outcomes, he said.

Data from environment group Kalikasan show that under the Marcos administration, at least 35 environment defenders have either disappeared or were abducted or killed.

Fisherfolk group Pamalakaya earlier said it was hopeful that Fry would hand over his recommendations to government so that it could lead to combatting the effects of climate change and upholding the rights of environmental advocates.

“Kasama rin sa aming panawagan ay ang pagpapanagot sa mga naganap na extrajudicial killings laban sa mga ipinagtatanggol ang kalikasan,” said Pamalakaya Vice Chairperson Ronnel Arambulo.

As of writing, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and NTF-ELCAC have yet to give a reaction on the UN official’s recommendation.

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