Quezon City, Philippines – The National Security Council (NSC) defended President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to include the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (COCOPEA) in the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), aiming to safeguard students from recruitment by extremist groups.
COCOPEA, an umbrella organization consisting of private schools, was included as one of two private sector representatives in the task force during the 6th NTF-ELCAC Executive Committee Meeting led by the President in a Malacañang press briefing Friday, November 8.
However, PBBM’s decision to include the organization drew criticisms, which NSC Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya defended.
“Schools are supposed to be safe spaces for learning and free expression and should be free from violence, extremism, or radicalization at all times. Students are there to learn and to contribute to society in a meaningful way. That is the purpose why the President approved the inclusion of the COCOPEA as a partner-institution of NTF-ELCAC,” Malaya emphasized.
Data shows from the Philippine National Police (PNP) that since 2014, around 168 students who were groomed into joining the New People’s Army (NPA) were killed, arrested, or surrendered.
Because of this, Malaya insisted that the President seemingly wanted to ensure that schools are safe from “terror-groomers” or similar inclusions aiming to attack the government.
“Our colleges and universities should be safe spaces for learning, not recruitment hubs for extremism,” Malaya iterated.
He then reassured that COCOPEA’s involvement would not hinder on academic freedom but instead foster awareness.