MANILA, Philippines — The bulk of the funds of the controversial National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) was allocated to the Davao region and Davao City, home of President Rodrigo Duterte, because of the military’s success in quelling the communist insurgency there, according to National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr.
In a statement dated Feb. 21, Esperon, who sits as the vice chair of NTF-Elcac, said that a total of 215 barangays in the Davao region have been cleared of the influence of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its guerrilla arm, the New People’s Army (NPA), from 2016 to 2019.
“The former NPA communities are now ripe for developmental projects through the Barangay Development Program (BDP),” said Esperon, who was Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff from 2006 to 2008.
The development projects are to be funded from the P16.4 billion earmarked from the NTF-Elcac’s P19-billion budget.
Of the P16.4 billion for the BDP, the Davao region is set to receive a hefty P4.3 billion—the largest among the regions, with Davao City getting almost 40 percent of that amount, or P1.64 billion.
Hermogenes Esperon Jr.
P20M per barangay
The BDP is an incentive for barangays that have cleared their areas of communists. Under the program, each of the 822 barangays listed by the NTF-Elcac is set to receive P20 million.
This will be earmarked for socioeconomic development such as for farm-to-market roads (P12 million), livelihood (P1.5 million), irrigation (P1.5 million), health stations (P1.5 million) and school buildings (P3 million).
“The Davao region will be receiving projects and funding for school buildings, among other projects, in order to provide places of learning which will replace the closed NPA learning and recruitment institutions,” he noted.
“The dismantling of guerrilla fronts necessitates a comprehensive process involving coordination between security operations and developmental intervention projects,” Esperson said.
Regional committees
He said the numbers of barangay beneficiaries in Mindanao appear to be huge because “the AFP had prioritized its previous clearing operations in Mindanao due to the CPP-NPA’s expansion of operations in the said area.”
According to the military, there are five CPP-NPA regional committees in Mindanao running several guerrilla fronts, two of which are in the Davao region.
But Esperon noted that since last year, the tally of barangays cleared of communists reached 1,376, with most of them in the Bicol, Caraga, Eastern and Western Visayas regions.
But the funds will be managed by the NTF-Elcac, chaired by Mr. Duterte himself, and opposition lawmakers have questioned why the lion’s share of the funds went to Davao region and Davao City instead of Bicol, Caraga, Eastern and Western Visayas.
Bayan Muna Rep. Ferdinand Gaite even suggested, without evidence, that the BDP would be used to fund the Duterte camp’s electoral campaign machinery.
FLAGGING INFLUENCE Once rampant in Mindanao, the communist insurgency is waning, according to the government. —ERWIN MASCARIÑAS
‘General’s pork barrel’
Of the 822 barangays listed as beneficiaries of the BDP, 215 are in Davao region, followed by 191 in Caraga and 119 in the Northern Mindanao region (Region 10).
Of the 182 total barangays in Davao City, 82 are included in the BDP—more than the 74 total barangay beneficiaries of the entire Western Visayas region (Region 6).
Following Davao City with the most number of barangay beneficiaries is Panabo City in Davao del Norte. Of its 40 barangays, 20 would receive BDP allocation.
Critics have assailed the BDP for being what they considered “generals’ pork barrel,” saying the NTF-Elcac would have almost complete autonomy in the allocation and disbursement of its multibillion-peso anti-insurgency funds.