(PNA file photo)
MANILA – Poor Filipinos would miss the chance to get out of poverty should the government stop allocating funds to the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), its spokesperson said on Saturday.
In a press statement, Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Undersecretary Lorraine Marie Badoy said PHP16.5 billion of the PHP19 billion budget of NTF-ELCAC for 2021 have been earmarked for the Barangay Development Program (BDP).
Badoy said the program would benefit about 822 villages cleared of influence by the Communist Party of the Philippines - New People’s Army - National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).
“In other words, this will give the poorest of the poor Filipinos a way out of poverty,” she said.
Badoy said the 822 villages located in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas need support from the government because they have been “underserved from the very start.”
Hence, the call to defund NTF-ELCAC would deprive poor Filipinos to live a comfortable life, she said.
“So when our legislators move to defund this budget, they are, in effect, taking away from the most vulnerable sector in our country – indigenous peoples among them – their best shot out of severe poverty and towards better lives for themselves and their children,” Badoy said.
The BDP, the nationwide banner program of NTF-ELCAC, is a package of socio-economic development programs allocated for areas cleared of NPA infestation.
Its major programs are farm-to-market roads, livelihood, irrigation, and health stations.
At least six senators and some members of the Lower House of Representatives have sought to withdraw funding for the NTF-ELCAC following its alleged red-tagging of community pantry organizers.
They want to reallocate the task force’s PHP19 billion budget to fund assistance to people affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
On Thursday, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque called the Senate’s proposal “unjust” as the NTF-ELCAC’s funds are being used to develop areas that are now communist-free.
The NTF-ELCAC, created by virtue of Executive Order 70 issued on Dec. 4, 2018, is tasked to “provide an efficient mechanism and structure for the implementation of the whole-of-nation approach to aid in the realization of collective aspirations for inclusive and sustainable peace.” (PNA)
In a press statement, Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Undersecretary Lorraine Marie Badoy said PHP16.5 billion of the PHP19 billion budget of NTF-ELCAC for 2021 have been earmarked for the Barangay Development Program (BDP).
Badoy said the program would benefit about 822 villages cleared of influence by the Communist Party of the Philippines - New People’s Army - National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).
“In other words, this will give the poorest of the poor Filipinos a way out of poverty,” she said.
Badoy said the 822 villages located in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas need support from the government because they have been “underserved from the very start.”
Hence, the call to defund NTF-ELCAC would deprive poor Filipinos to live a comfortable life, she said.
“So when our legislators move to defund this budget, they are, in effect, taking away from the most vulnerable sector in our country – indigenous peoples among them – their best shot out of severe poverty and towards better lives for themselves and their children,” Badoy said.
The BDP, the nationwide banner program of NTF-ELCAC, is a package of socio-economic development programs allocated for areas cleared of NPA infestation.
Its major programs are farm-to-market roads, livelihood, irrigation, and health stations.
At least six senators and some members of the Lower House of Representatives have sought to withdraw funding for the NTF-ELCAC following its alleged red-tagging of community pantry organizers.
They want to reallocate the task force’s PHP19 billion budget to fund assistance to people affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
On Thursday, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque called the Senate’s proposal “unjust” as the NTF-ELCAC’s funds are being used to develop areas that are now communist-free.
The NTF-ELCAC, created by virtue of Executive Order 70 issued on Dec. 4, 2018, is tasked to “provide an efficient mechanism and structure for the implementation of the whole-of-nation approach to aid in the realization of collective aspirations for inclusive and sustainable peace.” (PNA)
