The National Democratic Front-Eastern Visayas (NDF-EV) today condemned the Duterte regime’s anti-communist task force for its continuing campaign of forcing disaster victims in Biliran to “surrender” as members of the revolutionary movement.

“We condemn the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) for the ceaseless state-sanctioned harassment, red-tagging, and witch-hunt against a militant group of disaster survivors,” the NDF-EV said.

The NDF-EV issued the statement in response to a news report aired over Aksyon Radyo DYVL last September 18 regarding a “surrender ceremony” in Biliran, participated by allegedly a hundred People Surge members. The ceremony was led by the 802nd Infantry Brigade and the provincial TF-ELCAC.

“The NTF-ELCAC and the Duterte regime publicly vilify victims of calamities because they expose the government as inept, negligent, inhumane, corrupt and fascist, which is especially magnified in times of natural disasters.”

The NDF-EV added, “Throughout the country, many organizations putting forward the people’s demands have been subjected to incessant harassment and even killed by armed state agents. As such, many ordinary civilians were forced to ‘surrender.’

“Many were also fooled into attending ‘surrender ceremonies’ veiled as relief operations, such as those conducted in Catubig, Northern Samar last January and Matuguinao, Western Samar last April.”

The NDF-EV called on all disaster survivors and the broad masses to resist and expose as farce the NTF-ELCAC and the Duterte regime’s “surrender” campaign. “They must continue organizing and fighting for their democratic interests,” the NDF-EV ended.