Malacañang and Senate President Vicente Sotto 3rd rejected calls to defund the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) amid complaints on its red-tagging activities.

“Ang pagkakaalam ko po ’yung pondo ng Elcac para po sa proyekto na magbibigay ng asenso at progreso ’dun sa mga lugar na meron pang mga rebelde (As far as I know, the funding for Elcac is used for projects in areas where there are rebels),” Palace spokesman Harry Roque said.