MANILA, Nov. 21 -- A ranking official of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) on Friday scored the Communist Party of the Philippines - New People's Army (CPP-NPA) for its renewed wave of "spy-tagging" killings, which have targeted civilians.

"Spy-tagging is the CPP-NPA's most convenient weapon. It is not discipline. It is not revolution. It is murder," NTF-ELCAC executive director Undersecretary Ernesto Torres Jr. said in a statement.

He described the practice as "a death sentence imposed without truth, trial, or humanity," calling out groups that refuse to denounce the execution of unarmed civilians.

Torres also pointed out that the recent killings in Negros, where at least 15 farmers, barangay of...