The country’s top security official on Thursday assailed members of the left-leaning Makabayan Bloc in the House of Representatives who earlier claimed that the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict is asking for a budget that is intended to be pork barrel.
In an open letter addressed to the Makabayan Bloc members, particularly Party-list Rep. Ferdinand Gaite of Bayan Muna, National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon said that the NTF-ELCAC has marching orders from the President to ensure delivery of basic services to the countryside.
Esperon reacted to Gaite’s interpellation during the budget hearing of the Presidential Communications Operations Office in the House, accusing the agency getting funds not for barangays development but pork barrel.
“As vice chairman of the NTF-ELCAC, I have ensured that all its activities have been conducted within the bounds of the law,” Esperon said.
“I question the motive behind Gaite’s comments on the budget allocation and his objection to the empowerment and development of vulnerable communities in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas.”
Esperon said the proposed P16.1 billion budget allotted to NTF-ELCAC is earmarked for barangay development programs that are being implemented in communist insurgency affected and isolated villages.
In particular, the task force has identified 1,431 barangays which have been cleared of communist rebels and are due for government intervention, he said.
Esperon assured the Makabayan Bloc that all that the NTF-ELCAC is doing is taking care of the communities whose growth and progress have been stunted by the presence and influence of the New People’s Army, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines—both of which have been declared as terrorist organizations by the US and the European Union.
President Duterte himself, Esperon said, “stated in his State of the Nation Address that those barangays cleared of the communist terrorists influence will become recipients of programs and projects that include farm to market road and school buildings.”
“What Gaite has failed to note is that the funds for these will be sourced from the budget of agencies spearheading these projects, while the coordinated implementation will be by local chief executives,” he added.
The NTF-ELCAC was created to serve as conduit between national government agencies and the local government units ensuring developmental programs, Esperon said.