The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict on Saturday 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 Philippinesโ€“New Peopleโ€™s Armyโ€“National Democratic Front and its network of underground and above-ground allied organizations posing as โ€œnational democraticโ€ groups.In a statement, Usec. Ernesto C. Torres Jr., Executive Director of NTF-ELCAC, 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 actionโ€”clear indicators of central direction rather than spontaneous activism.โ€œThis is neither coincidence nor spontaneity. This is central direction from the party,โ€ Torres said. โ€œThe timing, language, framing, and cadence of these posts portray a party-imposed propaganda lineโ€”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 โ€œarmed struggle,โ€ โ€œrevolutionary movement,โ€ and โ€œlightning rallies,โ€ 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.โ€œThe truth is unmistakable: this is the behavior of an organization gasping for its last breath,โ€ Torres said. โ€œUnable 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,โ€ he pointed out.According to Torres, the objective is to stir anger, normalize violence as โ€œactivism,โ€ and groom a new generation to inherit a project that has already been judged by history. However, he stressed that the campaign has backfired.โ€œPublic reaction on the very pages of these organizations tells a story they cannot censor,โ€ Torres said.โ€œNetizensโ€™ comments are unforgiving and directโ€”calling out hypocrisy, recycled lies, the romanticization of violence, and the exploitation of youth and tragedy. These groups now thrive only within their own shrinking echo chambers,โ€ he further added.Torres also emphasized the clear boundary in a democratic society. โ€œDissent is protected in a democracy. Deception, grooming, and recruitment for political violence are not. They are acts of exploitationโ€”especially when aimed at the youth,” the official further said.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.โ€œHistory has rendered its verdict. The Filipino people have rendered theirs. No amount of digital noise can resurrect a discredited ideology or cleanse decades of blood, deception, and broken promises. Peace, progress, and justice will be built not by those who profit from rage and ruin, but by citizens who choose truth, accountability, and democratic engagement over the politics of violence,” the official concluded.(AFP)