THE Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (COCOPEA) has withdrawn from the controversial National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
The task force, which has been accused of red-tagging individuals, said it respects the group’s decision.
COCOPEA was added to the NTF-ELCAC in November last year. It counts among its members some 2,500 educational and learning institutions nationwide.
Its five-member associations are the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines, Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities, Association of Christian Schools, Colleges, and Universities, Philippine Association of Private Schools, Colleges, and Universities, and Tech-Voc Schools Association of the Philippines.
The organization said the decision was reached after “consultation among its member associations and upon review of its core advocacies.”
“COCOPEA’s withdrawal from the task force is of utmost significance in preserving the essentiality of academic freedom and the vital role it plays in a democratic society,” the group said in a statement issued on Sunday.
“While COCOPEA respectfully withdraws membership from NTF-ELCAC, it remains one with NTF-ELCAC’s mission to achieve unity, peace, security, and socioeconomic development,” the group added.
NTF-ELCAC executive director Ernesto Torres Jr said COCOPEA’s decision “is an internal matter” to the group.
“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,” he also said.
In a statement issued last Sunday, COCOPEA said it has asked the President to withdraw the association’s membership from the NTF-ELCAC, adding it has “opted to strengthen its education initiatives by preserving its collaborative role outside of a formal membership in the NTF-ELCAC.”
The NTF-ELCAC announced COCOPEA’s membership to the task force in November last year, saying the President wants schools to be free from “terror-groomers” or similar elements that recruit students to join the armed struggle against the government.
“This distinction is crucial — withdrawal from the execom (executive committee) is one thing, but continued collaboration is another,” said Torres.
“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,” he added.
Torres said NTF-ELCAC will continue its “close engagements” with COCOPEA and other educational institutions that share the task force’s vision of “safe, secure, and development-oriented learning spaces for all Filipino students.”
Torres reiterated the task force’s commitment 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.
