Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas (Photo from her Facebook page)
MANILA, Philippines — Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas on Tuesday vowed to block the 2022 budget of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) after one of its eight spokespersons, Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy, said its resources would be used to oust the Makabayan bloc from Congress through “legal means.”
The Makabayan bloc is composed of Brosas and five other lawmakers from militant party list groups Bayan Muna, ACT Teachers and Kabataan that Badoy has claimed as communist fronts.
According to Brosas, Badoy’s latest statement is more proof that the anti-insurgency task force has long been using its P19- billion budget to go after progressive groups that are critical of the Duterte administration.
She said that the NTF-Elcac had already filed a disqualification case using “trumped-up charges” against Gabriela Women’s Party.
At a press conference earlier this week, Badoy, who is with the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), again accused the Makabayan lawmakers of being communist rebels, saying “they have to be taken out” of Congress.
“But the only people who need to be kicked out of public office are Badoy and President Duterte’s military lackeys who have been using public funds to disenfranchise millions of marginalized Filipino people,” Brosas said.
The left-leaning lawmaker assured the public that she would block the budget next year of the task force.
“As the 2022 election draws near, the NTF-Elcac will most likely propose a higher budget to amplify its Red-tagging machinery against the Makabayan bloc and other progressive groups. The Duterte administration will not think twice in using public funds to remove the entire Makabayan bloc from Congress so that they can freely push for antipeople policies,” Brosas said.
The Makabayan bloc has repeatedly asked Congress to defund the NTF-Elcac following its rampant Red-tagging of lawmakers, human rights activists, students, celebrities and progressive groups.
Last year, the lawmakers clashed with Badoy during deliberations at the House of Representatives on the PCOO budget. Brosas and ACT Rep. France Castro called out Badoy over her Facebook posts in which she dared the Makabayan bloc to admit to being high-ranking leaders of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army. INQ