Drilon hits P16B proposed barangay-based counter-insurgency budget

MANILA, Philippines — Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon questioned the P16-billion proposed budget earmarked by the government for a barangay-based program of a counter insurgency task force has been given a bigger slice of the budget pie than those directly involved in pandemic alleviation.

During the Senate’s budget deliberations on Wednesday, Drilon pointed out that the barangay development program of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) has a proposed allocation of P16 billion — higher than those of other line departments and agencies.

“As against that P16 billion, DOLE (Department of Labor and Employment) is getting only P15.9 billion, OWWA (Overseas Workers Welfare Administration) is getting only 7.5 billion, DOT (Department of Tourism) is only getting P3.5 billion, DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) is getting only P5.5 billion,” Drilon told Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado.

“Can we explain the policy direction why we are giving more funds, huge amounts of funds, P16 billion—not to a department— but a task force to end local communist armed conflict?” he added.

Drilon then asked Avisado if communist insurgency is a bigger threat than unemployment and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic to several sectors.

“Your National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict is budgeted at P16 billion versus the budget for DOLE, for OWWA, for the DOT, DTI, which are getting much less,” the senator said.

“Are we saying that the insurgency is a more serious problem next year than unemployment, the shutting down of our tourism industry? Which suffered the worst in our various sectors. Is this a policy thrust again as shown in the budget?” he added.

Further, Drilon said that the barangay development program could be used for political purposes.

“Let me candid. Next year is an election year and here is a secretariat who will be playing God to the request of the barangays. I am not new in this government, in this bureaucracy. When you have a system like this, which is clearly to me, which can be used for political purposes,” the minority leader said.

“So, I call a spade a spade, you have an agency, not a regular line agency, just somebody who will be approving or disapproving barangays’ request for funding, so you can imagine what the political favors that will be done out of this system,” he added.

Avisado, meanwhile, explained that allocating the budget to the NTF-ELCAC is pursuant to President Rodrigo Duterte’s Executive Order No. 70, which is meant to combat counterinsurgency in the country through the creation of a national task force.

“There was a need for projects to be implemented to the barangays starting 2016 to 2019. These grassroots projects depend on the nature and character of the needs of the people of the barangay,” the budget chief said.

He also told senators that the budget for the barangay program will not directly go to the NTF-ELCAC.

The projects for each barangay are identified by the local government units (LGUs) themselves, according to Avisado.

“It is just that the NTF-ELCAC, being the national secretariat, is the repository of all of these requested projects of the barangays. The funds are not released to the NTF-ELCAC. The funds are released directly to the LGUs for them to implement and the national task force only serves as the secretariat for this program,” he said.

“What was agreed by the Cabinet and the President is that for the first time, at least the people in the barangays would know that government has shown that it has that intention to really clear them and free them from the clutches of all of these problems they’ve been beset with for the last 50 years,” he added.

EDV