MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Leila de Lima on Wednesday urged the Senate to conduct an inquiry into human rights violations "committed by state actors against legitimate civil society organizations and rights defenders in the country in the guise of counter-insurgency measures." Senate Resolution 215 filed by De Lima asks the appropriate Senate committee to investigate the red-tagging and rights abuses allegedly committed by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). The task force is directly under the Office of the President and was formed through Executive Order 70, issued in December 2018. However, according to reports, it has been used for political persecution, harassment and even violation of human rights,” De Lima said in a release. More individuals have been the subject of red-tagging since the signing of EO 70 and creation of the NFT-ELCAC, according to human rights monitor Karapatan.

Source: Philippine Star November 13, 2019 06:25 UTC