MANILA, Philippines — Senators on Monday doubled down on criticism of the government's anti-communist task force as it called for a review of how it uses funds allocated to it. Spokespersons of the National Task Force to End Local Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) came under fire over the weekend for linking volunteer-led community pantries to communist rebels. In a resolution, members of the upper chamber — so far Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto and Sens. RELATED: Government defends surge in budget of red-tagging task forceSenators noted that the line should be drawn between legitimate counter-insurgency operations and "silencing and crippling of innocent civilians with baseless and unsubstantiated claims." "We filed this resolution today to hold NTF-ELCAC accountable for its operations," said Sen. Joel Villanueva in a statement.

Source: Philippine Star April 26, 2021 10:28 UTC