The Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations of the Philippines (COCOPEA), an umbrella organization of around 1,500 private schools across the country, has withdrawn from being a member of the executive committee of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).

NTF-ELCAC Executive Director, Undersecretary Ernesto Torres Jr. said the anti-insurgency task force “respects” the decision of COCOPEA to step back from their formal membership to the committee, noting it was an “internal matter” on the part of the private schools’ organization.

“While COCOPEA has opted to step back from formal membership, we acknowledge and appreciate their reaffirmed commitment to NTF-ELCAC’s mission of unity, peace, security, and socioeconomic development,” Torres said in a statement Monday, Feb. 3.

COCOPEA said they will “continue to represent the private education sector in dialogues with the task force on matters that align with its goals and objectives.”

“This distinction is crucial—withdrawal from the Execom is one thing, but continued collaboration is another. The task force values its engagement with the private education sector, especially in advancing academic freedom, countering radicalization, and fostering an environment where education remains a pillar of peace and national development,” Torres noted.

It was in November last year when the NTF-ELCAC announced that the COCOPEA was included in the executive committee of the anti-insurgency task force, as part of the government’s efforts to intensify its information awareness campaign against various recruitment techniques by insurgency groups, particularly the Communist Party of the Philippines – New People’s Army – National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) and its front organizations, in various learning institutions.

The COCOPEA’s inclusion in the NTF-ELCAC committee was met with criticisms from different education stakeholders, as the task force had repeatedly been called out for allegedly engaging in red-tagging.

Despite the withdrawal, the NTF-ELCAC said it remains firm in its campaign against "violent extremism and terrorist-grooming", particularly the "deceptive recruitment of young students into armed struggle."

“We believe that schools should be centers of learning, free from exploitation by radical and extremist elements who prey on the idealism of youth to push their destructive agendas,” Torres said.