DAVAO CITY—Villages in which at least P1.58 billion in counterinsurgency funds would be poured were not picked by the city government but a task force formed by President Rodrigo Duterte to end insurgency by the time he steps down in 2022, according to Mayor Sara Duterte.
Sara said it was not the city government but the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) that drew the final list of villages that would get funding from the task force in its proposed budget for 2021.
The city government, Sara said, listed only 15 villages as beneficiaries of the funds through the Davao Regional Task Force to end insurgency.
The NTF-Elcac, the mayor said, not only listed the 15 priority villages identified by the city government but also added 68 other city villages in the program.
Sara said the NTF-Elcac added the 68 villages which the military described as “cleared” of the insurgency “but were still vulnerable to communist recruitment.”
The additional 68 villages brought to 83 the total number of villages in Davao City that had been proposed as beneficiaries of the funding, Sara said.
The mayor was reacting to reports that 79 Davao City villages—the highest number among other cities and provinces nationwide—were bound to receive at least P1.58 billion in counterinsurgency funds next year.
A document obtained by the Inquirer listed more than 800 villages as “cleared” of communist rebels and stood to receive P20 million each for projects to be approved by the NTF-Elcac.
Sara said the “listing of beneficiary” villages nationwide as part of the whole-of-government approach to end the insurgency “is determined and finalized by the NTF-Elcac.”
Among the 15 villages which the city government listed as priority for benefits from the Davao regional Elcac included the remote areas of Magtuod, Tapak, Colosas, Salapawan, Lumiad, Mapula, Panalum, Mabuhay, Tibuloy, Salaysay, Malamba, Guitan, Biao Joaquin, Talandng and Dominga.
TSB