Interior Secretary Eduardo Año defended the Php 16 billion fund for the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF ELCAC) during the 2021 budget hearing at the Lower House on Thursday.
Año clarified that the project funding is not pork barrel and not discretionary. The DILG added that recruitment of communist groups has declined even if the fund has not yet been released.
The program involves a Php 20-million fund for communities afflicted by communist groups .From its current Php 239 billion budget, the DILG is seeking an additional Php 4 billion for 2021.
Meanwhile, PNP Chief Camilo Cascolan who was also present in the budget hearing disclosed that 50,429 individuals have been arrested under the illegal drugs campaign from January 1 to August 31. Illegal drugs worth ₱14,537,674 have also been seized.
For its part, the BJMP reported that it has released 1,501 persons deprived of liberty (PDLs), including 560 senior citizens, 909 with illnesses, and 32 pregnant women.
Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate has appealed to expedite the release of other vulnerable inmates at the height of the issue on Pemberton’s release.
During the hearing, Kabataan Party-list Rep. Sarah Elago along with more than a hundred youth associations demanded for the resignation of National Youth Commission (NYC) Chairperson Ryan Enriquez for the low budget utilization rate of the agency and other issues.
The NYC has the lowest utilization of its yearly budget among agencies under the DILG wherein Php 52.1 million of its 2020 budget remain unspent. The NYC responded that 49 percent of its budget allocation has been returned to the government to help fund its COVID-19 response.
– Report from Naomi Tiburcio
