TACLOBAN CITY – Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go is opposing the plan of some of his colleagues at the Senate to defund the National Task Force to End Localized Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
According to Go, it is not right to make a drastic move considering that the national government’s campaign to quell the armed conflict, particularly against the members of the New People’s Army (NPAs), is now gaining momentum.
President Duterte’s closest ally at the Senate, hoped that whatever differences some of the senators had with the spokesperson of the government’s campaign against insurgency, Gen. Antonio Parlade, Jr. is better settled and set aside.
“I am not in favor of that because this will only derail our campaign against insurgency. We are now making good in our campaign against insurgency,” Go said on Friday during his visit to Palo town, Leyte where he led in the opening of Malasakit Centers at the Leyte Provincial Hospital and the Schistosomiasis Hospital.
He also said that the intention of the funds of the NTF-ELCAC is to help barangays, especially those located in far-flung areas, and provide projects for them so they won’t be persuaded by insurgents.
“The funds are intended for the barangays’ development programs. This is an incentive to the barangays by our government,” Go said.
“(Gen.Parlade) may have offended some of our senators. I think this is better settled and discussed and blow this out of proportion considering that we are in the midst of a pandemic,” the senator added.
For his part, Eastern Samar Gov. Ben Evardone, who chairs the Regional Peace and Order Council for Eastern Visayas, supported the stand of Go, adding that whatever the issue between some of the senators and the Army general could be settled the soonest.
Evardone said defunding the NTF-ELCAC will only harm the effort of the government to address the insurgency problem.
“We strongly oppose (defunding the task force). In the first place, it is not the NTF-ELCAC utilizing, disbursing or using the funds,” he said.
“Gen. Parlade has nothing to do with this. The funds are being used directly by the affected barangays. I think the perception by some of our friends at the Senate are misplaced,” Evardone added.
Eastern Visayas region continue to be grappling with insurgency problem which is often cited as one of the factors why it remains to be one of the poorest regions in the country.