Baka manalo pa Duterte! Makabayan bloc vows to bloc NTF-ELCAC’s P40B budget for 2022

By Billy Begas

Members of the Makabayan bloc will oppose the proposed P40-billion Barangay Development Fund (BDF) of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) in the 2022 national budget.

Aside from the possibility of being used as a huge campaign fund for the administration bets in 2022, House Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate said the fund “will only further enable the already bloody human rights record of the Duterte administration.”

Zarate said the regions where the BDF are being spent also have high numbers of extrajudicial killings (EJKs), illegal arrests and other human rights violations.

The top five regions that received the biggest BDF were Central Visayas, Northern Mindanao, Davao Region, Soccsksargen and Caraga.

“Based on the Karapatan data however, since President Rodrigo Duterte took office until June 2021, 206 of the 409 cases of extrajudicial killings transpired in the five regions while 221 of the 487 political prisoners arrested under the Duterte administration were arrested in the same regions,” Zarate added.

The Makabayan bloc will also scrutinize where the P16.24 billion BDF this year went “as it may have been used as sources for election funds, especially since some generals of the NTF-ELCAC are said to be running for office.”

The DILG said that P11.611-billion has been earmarked to farm-to-market road projects; P2.386-billion for water and sanitation system; P569-million for school buildings; P491-million for health station; P482-million for rural electrification; and, P328-million for agricultural, livelihood and technical vocational projects.

“We know that it is already election time and these funds are prone to be used to campaign for the candidates of the NTF-ELCAC. We will go through this budget with a fine tooth comb especially during the next budget deliberations and put to more useful pandemic intervention programs this P40 billion generals’ pork for 2022,” Zarate added.

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Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)