Palace asks Senate to retain P28.1B budget for NPA-cleared barangays

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles is concerned about budget cuts to barangay development. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Tuesday appealed to the Senate to reinstate the proposed P28.1 billion budget for the Support to the Barangay Development Program (SBDP) for New Peoples’ Army (NPA)-cleared barangays in the 2022 national budget.

The Palace echoed the appeal of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), saying the funds are vital to maintain peace and development in far-flung barangays.

“Kami ay nananawagan sa Senado na i-consider nila ‘yang deicison nila dahil unang una (We call on the Senate to reconsider its decision primarily because) there cannot be peace without development. There can’t be development without peace. They go hand in hand,” Cabinet secretary and acting presidential spokesperson Karlo Nograles said.

He said the projects funded by the program are meant to sustain peace and development efforts in far-flung, geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas.

“’Yung mga local government units na nagsumikap na magkaroon ng kapayapaan sa kanilang mga lokalidad ay umaasa sa mga proyektong ito,” Nograles said.

(They are banking on these projects.)

Senators have slashed by P24 billion the proposed budget for the government’s anti-insurgency task force, leaving it with only a P4 billion allocation next year.

According to Senate finance committee chairperson Sonny Angara, senators decided to make a massive cut in the NTF-Elcac’s budget because it failed to submit a report to the Senate on how the task force spent its P19 billion appropriation this year.