Special audit of anti-communist task force funds sought
MANILA, Philippines — Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Monday called for a special audit of the funds given this year to the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac), as he slammed what he said was Malacañang’s plan to double its funding to P40 billion in the 2022 national budget.
The controversial anti-insurgency task force is one of President Duterte’s flagship programs. This year it received a hefty P19.2 billion — compared with P1.7 billion in 2020—of which the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) released P16.24 billion in July to fund the Barangay Development Program (BDP) of the task force.
According to the DILG, at least 800 barangays “freed” from the communist insurgency have received about P20 million each from the P16.24 billion to fund their various community development programs.
‘Soft programs’
Drilon said the Commission on Audit (COA) should look into these “soft programs,” which he said were prone to corruption.
He cited, among these, livelihood and skills training programs, assistance to indigents, educational, medical or burial assistance, and the provision of agricultural farm inputs.
“These soft programs are often the source of corruption as we have seen in the past. The COA knows the history of [the] fertilizer fund scam [of 2004] and the [Technical Education and Skills Development Authority] ghost scholars. This is exactly the kind of system that is prone to corruption,” Drilon said.
“Let’s not mince words: [This NTF-Elcac funding] is an election giveaway,” he said.
2022 budgetDrilon made the call as the executive department is set to submit to Congress the 2022 National Expenditure Program (NEP) within 30 days from Mr. Duterte’s State of the Nation Address on July 26.
According to the DILG, the BDP funds will be used for various projects, including 926 farm-to-market roads, 516 water and sanitation projects, 156 health stations and 135 school buildings.
Mr. Duterte’s home region of Davao and hometown of Davao City received P4.3 billion and P1.64 billion, respectively—constituting the bulk of the NTF-Elcac funds, based on records.
Of the P12.42 billion allocated to villages in Mindanao, 215 of those villages are from the Davao region.
Drilon said the Department of Budget and Management “really more than doubled” the NTF-Elcac’s budget in the still-to-be-submitted NEP for 2022, from its current allocation of P19.2 billion.
“It is an election year budget and it is obvious that the 100-percent increase in the NTF-Elcac’s budget is designed to woo voters,” the Senate minority leader said.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año had said earlier, however, that his agency, which is part of the task force, will be transparent in the disbursement of funds under the BDP.
Drilon lamented that Malacañang would push through with its planned P40-billion funding for the NTF-Elcac “at the expense of other urgent priorities,” such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the country’s growing budget deficit of P761 billion as of June.
Meanwhile, the COA issued a report saying that the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) used part of its P91.575-million funds for the NTF-Elcac as COVID-19 assistance for land reform beneficiaries.
Funds used elsewhere
The audit body said the use of funds meant for the task force “defeats the purpose for which the fund was originally intended.”
The COA advised the DAR’s central office to “cause the full utilization of funds and timely implementation of planned program, projects and activities in accordance with the original purpose it was intended.”
This was after the central office acknowledged that the P91.575 million for the NTF-Elcac “was modified to subsidies” for the ARBold Move project.
ARBold Move stands for “ARBold Move for Deliverance of ARBs (Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries) from the COVID-19 Pandemic.”
The project is aimed at providing immediate essential support services to land reform beneficiaries “to mitigate the impact of community quarantine measures due to COVID-19,” the DAR said.
The COA, however, advised the central office to fully utilize funds for NTF-Elcac programs, projects and activities “in accordance with the original purpose it was intended.”
The COA said further that it could not properly evaluate the utilization status of the P91.575 million.
The audit agency cited “absence of relevant documents” and “incomplete information affecting the appropriateness and accuracy of the reports submitted.”
