• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC )has warned the public against what it described as a deliberate, synchronized, and nationwide social-media propaganda offensive being mounted by the Communist Party of the Philippines–New People’s Army–National Democratic Front and its network of underground and above-ground allied organizations posing as “national democratic” groups.
In a statement, Undersecretary Ernesto Torres Jr., NTF-ELCAC executive director, said that over the past months, dozens of interlinked pages and sectoral fronts across the country have pushed identical narratives, slogans, hashtags, visuals, and calls for action—clear indicators of central direction rather than spontaneous activism.
“This is neither coincidence nor spontaneity. This is the central direction from the party,” Torres said.
“The timing, language, framing, and cadence of these posts portray a party-imposed propaganda line—a textbook maneuver by a movement in decline attempting to manufacture an illusion of relevance and strength in the digital space,” he further noted.
Torres stressed that the messaging recycles explicit ideological cues such as calls for “armed struggle,” “revolutionary movement,” and “lightning rallies,” alongside recruitment-adjacent content aimed at students, urban poor communities, and other vulnerable sectors.
He said the pattern reflects a retreat to the online arena as the group fails to regain support on the ground.
“The truth is unmistakable: this is the behavior of an organization gasping for its last breath,” Torres said.
“Unable to rebuild support through armed formations that are now fragmented, isolated, and rejected by communities, they have resorted to flooding social-media platforms with rage-bait, distortion, and incitement,” he pointed out.
According to Torres, the objective is to stir anger, normalize violence as “activism,” and groom a new generation to inherit a project that has already been judged by history. However, he stressed that the campaign has backfired.
He urged the public to remain vigilant by questioning coordinated outrage, rejecting the romanticization of violence, protecting the youth from online grooming and ideological manipulation, and holding organizations accountable for their words, intent, and links to armed violence.*
