THE National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) hailed the Court of Appeals’ (CA) ruling affirming the conviction of those involved in the Talaingod child abuse case, calling it a decisive victory for justice, accountability, and the protection of Indigenous peoples (IP) children.
In a statement, NTF-Elcac Executive Director Ernesto Torres Jr. welcomed the appellate court’s decision, which upheld the judgment of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 2 of Tagum City, Davao del Norte, finding the 13 Talaingod respondents guilty of violating Section 10(a) of Republic Act 7610, the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act.
“The Court of Appeals’ decision is a victory for IP children and for the rule of law,” Torres said. “This case is not about ideology or activism. It is about acts that placed indigenous children in danger and violated the law meant to protect them.”
Torres criticized the continued use of “romanticized language” and slogans regarding the case, as these only obscure the gravity of the crime and divert public attention away from the victims.
“We should be clear and honest in our language,” he said. “These are 13 convicts who were found guilty by the courts of abusing and endangering IP children. No slogan can erase that fact.”
Torres said the ruling demolished claims that the conviction amounted to political persecution. He said those charged were convicted based on evidence, and granted full opportunity to appeal.
“Disagreeing with a decision does not make it unjust. The authority of our courts cannot be dismissed simply because a ruling is inconvenient,” he said.
Torres said that the incident occurred in November 2018, a month before the creation of NTF-Elcac, underscoring what he described as the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front’s “shameless propensity to lie and mislead the people” by falsely linking the case to the task force.
“The task force had absolutely nothing to do with the arrest of the group at that time,” Torres said.
In a separate statement, the task force’s Legal Cooperation Cluster (LCC) said the CA ruling confirmed that it was law enforcement authorities, not the convicted group, who rescued the minors.
The LCC said overwhelming evidence showed that the 13 convicts attempted to transport minor students from Talaingod, Davao del Norte, to an unsecured location over dangerous terrain, exposing them to real risk and harm.
“Proven not by social media sound bites but by hard, cold, and irrefutable evidence, their actions jeopardized the safety and well-being of the children,” the LCC said, adding that the incident was a failed attempt to recruit minors into a “lost and dangerous cause.”
The LCC is co-chaired by Office of the Solicitor General Assistant Solicitors General Angelita Miranda and Karen Ong, who lead the task force’s legal coordination efforts in support of prosecutions involving child protection and national security cases.
