ASEAN HEADLINES: Fri., Oct. 02, 2020: MANILA- P16B for anti-insurgency task force questioned

October 2, 2020October 2, 2020 Contributor 0 Comment ASEAN HEADLINES: Fri.. Oct. 02 2020, MANILA- P16B for anti-insurgency task force questioned

REBEL INFLUENCE A group of New People’s Army fighters march in formation during ceremonies where the rebels released captured government soldiers in this April 19, 2017, photo taken in Davao del Sur province. The government says it will use P16.4 billion to develop 822 remote villages to keep them away from rebel influence. —AFP

The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) does not have to provide P16.4 billion worth of development projects to barangays already freed from communist rebel influence, according to Sen. Risa Hontiveros, who said the money would be better used for health programs.

Under the government’s anti-insurgency campaign, 822 remote barangays will each get P20 million from the fund allocated in the 2021 budget of the task force to improve the conditions of the villages to prevent them from being swayed again by the New People’s Army (NPA), the military wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines.

Such development projects could be handled by existing departments, Hontiveros said at Thursday’s hearing on the 2021 budget of the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

She said the task force itself was a nonessential agency and expressed concern that the P16.4 billion might be used for the next elections or to curry political favors.