Several local government officials are opposing suggestions to defund the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), and expressing their support for its program that aids barangays in conflict-affected areas.
According to Jose Ivan Dayan C. Agda, mayor of Borongan City, Eastern Samar, the cutting of NTF-ELCAC funds is an opportunity for the New People’s Army (NPA) to recover its mass bases in barangays. Agda also praised the agency’s Local Government Support Fund-Support to Barangay Development Program (LGSF-SBDP).
He called the SBDP “one of the best synergized internal activities of the [NTF-ELCAC] to address the primary issues on socio-economic and political spheres obtaining in the barangays for quite some time,” adding that it is “critical” towards “deny[ing] the Communist NPA terrorist (CNT) attempt to recover their lost ‘mass base’ in the remote barangays.”
Gen. MacArthur Mayor Flora Ty also appealed to lawmakers to thoroughly evaluate their decision to defund the task force, saying that Eastern Samar is “greatly affected with the problem [of] insurgency.”
“I am appealing to our lawmakers to reconsider their proposal to defund the program,” she wrote in an open letter.
Quinapondan Mayor Rafael Asebias likewise expressed his “full support” for the assistance of the NTF-ELCAC to the LGSF-SBDP. In a resolution, the members of his town’s peace and order council also wrote that they “strongly oppose the legislators’ proposal to defund the SBDP program.”
Meanwhile, Association of Brgy. Captains (ABC) Pres. Teodoro Robles said, “Kami ay nanawagan sa ating mga mambabatas na huwag po nating ipagkait sa amin ang nakatakdang programa.”
Several lawmakers earlier called for the reduction of the task force’s budget or its realignment to support assistance or “ayuda” programs of the government.
Senator Joel Villanueva also filed a resolution to determine the utilization of the NTF-ELCAC’s budget.
Meanwhile, Senate President Vicente Sotto III clarified that “the officials of NTF-ELCAC have nothing to do with the funds.”
“It goes straight to the LGUs. That’s why I said, remove the talkatives but not the program. Why blame the program for loose talks?” he pointed out.
Senator Christopher “Bong” Go also questioned the move and emphasized that the anti-insurgency program is going well, giving barangays much-needed help. “Yung pondo po para sa ELCAC ay hindi naman po para makipag-patayan. Ang pondo po na ito ay tulong po sa mga barangay,” Go said.
According to the ELCAC, the fund for the program covers the establishments of farm to market roads, bridges, a national greening program, and water sanitation systems. – Report from Eunice Samonte/AG-jlo
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