By Hannah Keziah Agustin 

(1st update) NEW YORK CITY — Members of progressive groups in the US confronted government officials who attended last week’s session at the fourth United Nations Counter-Terrorism Week (UN-CTW) from June 26 to July 2.     

Groups led by the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-USA (Bayan USA) confronted Undersecretary Bernardo Florece, Executive Director of the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC), and Rodolfo Asel Tor, retired Major General of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA), outside the Philippine Consulate General of New York (PCGNY).

The delegation from the Philippine government includes National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) Executive Director Ernesto Torres, Jr. and Francis Jude Lauengco of the National Security Council. 

Back-to-back mobilizations were done to oppose the presence of the delegation. On June 29, organizations held an action outside of the United Nations condemning violations of human rights and international humanitarian law being carried out in the Philippines in the name of “counter-terrorism”.

On June 30, community members confronted NTF-ELCAC members outside of an unpublicized, closed-door town hall at the Philippine Consulate in New York.

On July 1, activists unfurled a banner reading “U.S.-Marcos #1 IHL (International Humanitarian Law) Violators in the PH!” in the United Nations’ lobby as attendees filed out of the General Assembly Hall.

This built up to July 4, which marked the 250th anniversary of the United States of America and the 80th “Philippine-American Friendship Day,” when they mobilized to oppose the unequal and neocolonial relationship between the two nations.

Since 2018, member states and civil society organizations (CSOs) have convened at the UN-CTW to discuss and update the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy (UN-GCTS). This year’s theme is “A Future Free from Terrorism: Consolidating the Global Commitment to Multi-Stakeholder Approaches to Counter Terrorism through Member States’ Leadership and Action.”

The fourth pillar of the UN-GCTS includes “measures to ensure respect for human rights for all and the rule of law as the fundamental basis of the fight against terrorism”.

“The states do not appear to actively care about human rights, nor do they even pay lip service to it to appear that they uphold [the fourth pillar],” said an attendee from a civil society organization (CSO).

Some CSOs expressed concern over proposals to create more public private partnerships for technology, finance, and artificial intelligence (AI) companies and states to share data, especially AI-assisted monitoring of transactions.

Undersecretary Bernardo Florece Jr. presented an intervention during Session III on the “Global Terrorism Threat Landscape at the Fourth UN High-Level Conference of Heads of Counter-Terrorism Agencies of Member States.” He called on the Counterterrorism Agencies of UN member states to ‘strengthen international cooperation to address evolving terrorism threats.’

“What he really means is he wants help in surveilling and repressing his own people overseas to cover up their own failures and crimes,” said Nieves Delgado, chairperson of Bayan USA. “Florece and the Marcos Jr. regime are so scared of the power of diaspora organizing that they’ve painted us out to be the classic fascist scapegoat: a vague ’terrorist threat.”

Despite the counter-terrorism agency being the National Security Agency (NSA), the NTF-ELCAC had a delegation bigger than other member states.

The Permanent Mission of the Republic of the Philippines to the United Nations (UN) was also part of the panel “Centering Victims: Advancing Member State Leadership and Global Cooperation for a Future Free from Terrorism.”

Progressive groups led by Bayan USA, Malaya Movement USA, and the International Coalition of Human Rights in the Philippines–US (ICHRP) held a protest action at the UN Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza on June 29. They named the US-Marcos regime as the “number one terrorist against the Filipino people.”

The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution for the ninth review of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy on July 2. In response, civil society organizations and human rights advocates raise the alarm on the lack of attention to, and protections for, human rights within the UN’s counter-terrorism strategy, making it vulnerable to abuse of state power.

NTF-ELCAC officials at the Philippine Consulate

On June 30, the Philippine delegation held an invite-only town hall for Filipino youth wherein they presented on what they called the “International Terrorist Network” of the CPP-NPA-NDF [Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People’s Army, and the National Democratic Front].

The presentation concluded with an “8-point plan” addressing terror-grooming. They also called for community members to support the Barangay Development Programs and a pending “Terror-Grooming Prevention Bill” in Congress. The said bill was sponsored by Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa. 

In a statement by the spokesperson [real name withheld for security concern] from the People’s Lawyers for Philippine Liberation (PL4PL), the NTF-ELCAC is known for terror-tagging—a form of targeting, surveillance, and harassment which brands community members, activists and organizations as terrorists.

“Their new term, “terror-grooming,” falsely implies that young Filipinos cannot independently fight for their basic rights and are simply vulnerable to extremism,” said the spokesperson from PL4PL

Read: Proposed ‘Terror Grooming’ bill seen as insult to youth, threat to academic freedom

NTF-ELCAC-backed organization Filipino Americans Against Communist Terrorism (FACT)  was present during the town hall and was the designated spokesperson during the question and answer portion of the event.

According to some town hall attendees, they would not have attended the town hall had they known the forum’s topic in advance.

“The Philippine government relies on deception and confusion convening town halls under false pretenses and without clarity,” said one of the youth attendees.

They’ve seen the grassroots organizations who the government calls “terrorists” unceasingly support Filipino migrant workers in New York and New Jersey.

“In criminalizing activists and spreading misinformation about cases of civilian murder like the Negros 19, the NTF-ELCAC attempts to weaken resistance to the Philippine and US governments’ land-grabbing and extraction projects like Pax Silica,” said Jo Mari of Migrante New Jersey.

They further explained that Pax Silica and the NTF’s Barangay Development Plan will only ‘facilitate the foreign plunder of natural resources, exploitation of farmers, and increased militarization.’

While the event happened, a protest action was led by grassroots organization outside of the building condemning the NTF-ELCAC’s presence.

“The NTF-ELCAC are here to cover up their crimes against humanity,” said David Alegre of Malaya Movement New York. “The reality is that the Philippine government can no longer continue to hide its gross human rights violations.”

As early as 2024, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression Irene Khan has been calling for the abolition of the “outdated” NTF-ELCAC. In response, the NTF-ELCAC said that she should get the rebel returnees’ side as well.

“The NTF-ELCAC is the largest human rights violator of the Philippines,” said Gordon M. of International Coalition on Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP). “We join the UN, the people of the Philippines and all around the world in joining the call to abolish the NTF-ELCAC.”

The delegation exited the PCGNY building after the town hall and was confronted by community members who were asking them about their presence in the UN, especially after their failed bid for a non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council (UNSC) in June.

When Asel Tor of NICA was asked about the red-tagging of the Negros 19, he only responded with “Calm down.” They entered the car without entertaining any questions and then sped away. They were chased by Filipino community members down three avenues.

“My friend Kai […] spent her days serving migrant workers — those most exploited, most oppressed… who were sold out by the very people in this Consulate,” said Liz Park of the International League of People’s Struggles. “She went home to understand the conditions of the most oppressed in the Philippines and was met with fascist violence”.

At the town hall, NTF-ELCAC officials named five Filipino-American activists as “Foreign Terrorist Fighters”. Among them were Lyle Prijoles and Kai Sorem, two community organizers killed by the military through indiscriminate strafing in Toboso, Negros Occidental in April 19.

“The NTF-ELCAC is not an agency that promotes defense or security,” said Kujo Mangahas of BAYAN USA Northeast. “The Marcos government sees the organizing efforts of our people and they are afraid of us. That’s why they set up agencies like the NTF-ELCAC.” (RTS, AMU, RVO)

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correct the affiliation of some Filipino American activists.