The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) clarified that only one of its commissions is involved with the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).

“Not the entire CBCP,” President and Kalookan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David said in a statement on Friday, Sept. 1.
David said that the Episcopal Commission on Public Affairs (ECPA) would be the main point for engaging with the NTF-ELCAC “precisely to address some Church issues vis-a-vis the government, including the issue about the red-tagging of some cause-oriented groups and Church organizations by the said body.”
It was on Aug. 31 when NTF-ELCAC Executive Director Undersecretary Ernesto Torres Jr. announced that CBCP will have a private-sector representative in the NTF-ELCAC, particularly Bishop Reynaldo Evangelista.
READ:
https://mb.com.ph/2023/8/31/cbcp-now-representing-private-sector-in-ntf-elcac-1
David pointed out that the CBCP is “not part of a controversial anti-communist task force, known for red-tagging activists, journalists and even church people.”
“This Commission has access to the NTF-ELCAC’s executive committee and more opportunity to express the Church’s specific concerns,” he noted.
The bishop added that the commission intended to provide “moral-ethical approaches to dealing with the problem of insurgency.”
“Can this Commission engage the said government body in a dialogue without having to join its ExeCom as a member — i.e., private sector representative?” he questioned.
Moreover, David hopes “to come up with some resolutions on this matter soon.”