Davao Oriental Governor Nelson Dayanghirang on Wednesday called on the Senate to approve the proposed PHP24-billion budget of the National Task Force on Ending Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) next year as it greatly helps peace and development in insurgency-cleared barangays.
At a virtual Network Briefing News of the Presidential Communications Operations Office, Dayanghirang said NTF-ELCAC’s Barangay Development Program (BDP) has changed the landscape of the barangays that were once lairs of the communist New People’s Army (NPA).
“I am calling our dear senators, do not deprive the people who are aiming for peace and development. This has been the long dream of our nation,” he said.
With the Senate Committee on Finance’s decision to cut the budget of NTF-ELCAC from PHP24 billion to PHP 4 billion, Dayanghirang said it would deal a big blow on the attainment of peace and development in the barangay beneficiaries through BDP projects.
A hallmark program of NTF-ELCAC with the end goal of bringing development to former conflict-prone communities, the BDP forms part of the government‘s whole-of-nation approach in fighting the insurgency waged by the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) in the countryside.
The program aims to eradicate the root causes of the insurgency, poverty, disease, lack of education and opportunities, and social injustice in far-flung communities across the country identified to have been influenced by the communist ideology.
To achieve this, the BDP provides a grant of funds to identified NPA-cleared barangays to implement community-driven socio-economic development projects to former conflict-affected communities.
“We all know that BDP is an answer to the unending issue about peace and order. I am asking the senators to support this initiative and approve its budget,” Dayanghirang said.
He also urged the next administration to continue the program of President Rodrigo Duterte, particularly the nation’s peace and development efforts.
“I want to thank President Rodrigo Duterte for focusing on peace, especially on its campaign against insurgency,” the governor said.
A total of 1,406 villages nationwide are expected to benefit from the BDP next year. They are set to receive PHP20 million each to fund their anti-insurgency projects.
Each recipient barangay will spend the PHP20-million fund through farm to market roads amounting to PHP12 million; school buildings – PHP3 million; water and sanitation systems – PHP2 million; reforestation and national greening program – PHP1.5; and health stations – PHP1.5 million.
The Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.
The Anti-Terrorism Council has formally designated the National Democratic Front of the Philippines as a terrorist organization on June 23, 2021, citing it as “an integral and separate part” of the CPP-NPA created in April 1973.
Source: Philippines News Agency
