Marcos OKs more funding for NTF-Elcac’s development program

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. approved the increase of up to P7.5 million the per village allocation of the anticommunist task force’s Support to Barangay Development Program (SBDP).

The National Security Council on Monday announced that Marcos directed the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to allocate an additional P5 million on top of the initial P2.5 million for every village under the program of National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac).

“The President was not happy with the original P2.5 million per barangay in the 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA) so he ordered the DBM to allocate the additional funds for this year,” Malaya said in a statement.

READ: NTF-Elcac won’t be abolished by Marcos, says security council exec

“He said that P2.5 million will hardly make an impact in terms of development so he ordered the augmentation,” he added.

Malaya said a total of additional P4.32 billion was allotted for 864 barangays which will then receive the P7.5 million under the SBDP to be utilized to build farm-to-market roads, school buildings, water and sanitation systems, health stations, rural electrification, and other relevant non-infra projects.

Meanwhile, he also said Marcos expressed support for the P10 million per barangay allocation in the 2025 budget which is currently under deliberation in the Senate.

“The President noted that the NEP (National Expenditure Program) allocated P10 million per barangay for the next batch of recipient barangays next year and he hopes Congress will ensure that the final version of the 2025 GAA reflects this amount,” Malaya said.

However, the P10 million proposal is only half to that of 2021, when each village under SBDP received P20 million.

It was slashed to P4 million in 2022 and was even reduced to P2.5 million for each village in 2023 and 2024.