Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Tuesday questioned the “speedy” release of P10.6 billion of the government anti-communist task force’s total P19-billion budget amid calls to realign the funds to the country’s COVID-19 response.
Drilon slammed the priority given to the controversial anti-insurgency program as he also inquired into the government’s spending priorities amid the coronavirus pandemic.
But a member of the minority bloc at the House of Representatives said the decision on defunding the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) is a prerogative of Malacañang.
“That’s actually something that the executive (branch) must decide upon,” Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo said in a television interview when asked about her opinion as legislator on the clamor to realign the P19-billion NTF-ELCAC budget to assist those affected by the pandemic.
“On our end, it’s quite agnostic as to which programs need to be stopped or continued. What we’re saying is whatever program is stopped and whatever savings is generated, there’s a provision in Bayanihan 3 that says that you can take those extra funds to use in ‘ayuda’ (financial aid),” she added.
Quimbo is Speaker Lord Allan Velasco’s co-author to the proposed Bayanihan 3 Act, which provides a P420-billion stimulus package proposal to help the economy recover from COVID-19.
Of the NTF-ELCAC’s budget for this year, P16.4 billion is allocated to its Barangay Development Program.
Meanwhile, Leyte Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez said defunding the NTF-ELCAC “is not the appropriate action just to vent frustration over red-tagging.”
“Let us focus on the wider perspective. Incapacitating the NTF-ELCAC would be a concession of the government’s gains in the fight against insurgency,” she said.
Torres, member for the majority of the House committee on appropriations, added: “The P16-billion budget earmarked for the Barangay Development Program, which is a cornerstone in this success, has helped many former rebels’ transition to regular folks. This is a major headway towards achieving peace, especially in the countryside.”
Still, Drilon criticized why the insurgency program was prioritized in the release of the budget despite tight government resources.
The senator also questioned the lack of transparency on the budget of NTF-ELCAC, as he reiterated his call for the submission of a quarterly report on the use of the P19-billion fund as mandated under the 2021 General Appropriations Act (GAA).
The GAA provides that “the implementing agencies and NTF-ELCAC shall submit to the Office of the President, DBM (Department of Budget and Management), House of Representatives and the Senate, either in printed form or by way of electronic document, quarterly reports on the utilization of funds and physical accomplishments.”
He said the funds were released amid strong opposition from lawmakers, both in the majority and minority blocs in the Senate and the House of Representatives, to realign NTF-ELCAC’s P19 billion budget to pandemic response.
Drilon said the Senate should use its oversight function to scrutinize the use of NTF-ELCAC’s funds and compel the task force to submit a report to Congress.
“Where did the P10.68 billion go? What barangay? What town or city benefitted here? In the spirit of transparency, let us publish the data and inform the public,” Drilon said.
Citing the data from the DBM, Drilon said the total fund releases for the NTF-ELCAC already reached P10.68 billion as of April 2021.
Drilon said that while the country’s “ayuda” of P8,000 each for private sector workers remains a proposal and unfunded, NTF-ELCAC has received P7.54 billion in April alone, at the height of strong criticisms against the task force’s red-tagging of community pantry organizers.
“Bakit po parang nagmadaling ilabas ang budget? Bakit yung pondo sa Marawi rehabilitation mabagal ang paglabas ng pondo? Saan po gagamitin itong P10.68 bilyon?” he asked.
Last March 24, NTF-ELCAC’s program received P3.14 billion, Drilon noted.
He said defeating the virus and addressing the effects of the pandemic such as unemployment and hunger should be our priority.
About 62 percent of Filipino households experienced hunger due to COVID-19 pandemic and 4.4 million Filipinos lost jobs in 2020, Drilon said. “Yet, the government is giving priority to NTF-ELCAC’s anti-insurgency program rather than use the funds to expand ayuda, buy vaccines and feed the poor,” he said.
The senator said the pending Bayanihan 3 measure in Congress will provide a bigger economic stimulus, but its passage is surrounded by uncertainties over the availability funds.