Saying the fund is needed to address the 50-year-old insurgency problem, Sen. Panfilo Lacson is joining calls to retain some P16.4 billion in allocations for the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) in the 2021 budget.
Lacson pointed out the fund is not even at the disposal of the security sector since it is part of the Special Purpose Fund under the Assistance to Local Government Units (ALGU).
As such, he said the fund is intended to hold and develop barangays that are cleared of New People’s Army (NPA)’s influence.
“(The fund) will go to development programs such as farm-to-market roads and livelihood, as part of confidence-building to prevent the insurgency problem from returning,” he said in a statement.
“With this, affected barangays will no longer be vulnerable to attempts by the NPA to recruit members especially from indigenous peoples. Pagkakataon ito pati sa mga NPA sa mga lugar na ito na magbagong-buhay,” he added.
Lacson, a member of the Philippine Military Academy Class 1971, has had his encounters with the NPAs during his time serving in the security sector.
He pointed out the insurgency problem is more than 50 years old, easily the oldest in Asia.
“It is time we take the needed steps to address the insurgency problem,” he said.
Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)
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