Manila, May 13 -- The National Security Council (NSC) on Monday dismissed calls made by leftist groups calling for the abolition of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).

NSC Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya made the remark after Karapatan, Gabriela, and Human Rights Watch, among others, called for the task force's abolition following the Supreme Court's (SC) ruling declaring red-tagging a threat to people's life, liberty, and security, and could warrant the issuance of a protection order.

He, however, emphasized that nowhere in the SC's 39-page decision granting a writ of amparo to former Bayan Muna party-list lawmaker Siegfred Deduro does it state that NTF-ELCAC was responsible for red-tag...