A progressive group of indigenous peoples sharply condemned the National Task Force (NTF)-Elcac’s June announcement appointing anti-indigenous National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) chair Nancy Alaan Catamco as co-chair of one of its clusters. According to Katribu Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (Alliance of Indigenous Peoples of the Philippines), Catamco once again proved her betrayal of the indigenous peoples with her appointment to the NTF-Elcac.

“Instead of defending our rights and ancestral lands, she chose to align the NCIP with an agency known for repressing and oppressing indigenous communities,” Katribu national convenor Beverly Longid said. The group said the move further exposed the NCIP as an instrument of state repression and plunder by private corporations.

“By accepting this designation, Catamco is effectively bringing the perpetrators of these violations into the very communities she claims to protect and serve,” Longid added.

The NTF-Elcac cluster that Catamco will co-head is the Sectoral Unification, Capacity Building, Empowerment, and Mobilization (SUCBEM). She will lead it alongside National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) Lead Convenor Secretary Lope Santos III. The new cluster also aligns with the Marcos regime’s implementation of the National Action Plan for Unity, Peace and Development.

Katribu belies the claim that the cluster will be used for development and giving communities a voice. It said the NTF-Elcac uses terms like “grassroots,” participation, and empowerment to conceal the program’s real character.

“But Indigenous communities know from experience what NTF-ELCAC brings: red-tagging and vilification, intimidation, surveillance, harassment, intensified military operations, fabricated charges, forced displacement, and even killings carried out in the name of counterinsurgency,” Longid said. The NTF-Elcac also reportedly paves the way for the entry of destructive mines, dams, plantations, and other projects that threaten ancestral lands.

Longid added that Catamco’s appointment comes at a time when the Marcos regime is aggressively pushing large-scale renewable energy projects and the US Pax Silica initiative focused on critical mineral mining. “Catamco’s appointment to the NTF-ELCAC is not a victory for Indigenous Peoples. It is a disaster that will bring greater hardship to our communities,” Longid said.

In light of this, Katribu renewed its call for the abolition of the NCIP and the NTF-Elcac.