LGUs threaten ‘Zero-Vote Campaign’ over BDP defunding

LOCAL government officials are ready to troop to the Senate and threatened to launch a ‘Zero Vote Campaign’ against some senators running in next year’s polls as they press their demand for the restoration of the P28.1 billion budget for the Barangay Development Program (BDP) focused on helping the country’s poor villages from again falling prey to the propaganda and recruitment of terrorists, particularly the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

During the weekly presser of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) last November 22, 2021, Gov. Nelson Dayanghirang of Davao Oriental, Gov. Arthur Yap of Bohol, Gov.  Ben Evardone of Eastern Samar, and Municipal Mayor Eric Constantino of Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro, said they are ready to lead their fellow governors and other LGU officials in going to the Senate and reiterate that the BDP budget for next year be restored.

The LGU officials added they intend to campaign against senators who have agreed to reduce the program’s budget.

Senate Finance Committee chair, Edgardo ‘Sonny’ Angara, last November 9, 2021, announced he agreed to the demand of his Senate “colleagues,” but whom he did not name, to reduce the BDP budget to a measly P4.11 billion.

He averred the slashed amount of P24 billion would be instead given to the country’s frontline medical/health workers in the fight against COVID-19. The solon also voiced the CPP propaganda line that the BDP is unnecessary and that its implementing agency, the NTF-ELCAC, should either be defunded or abolished (see related story, Pinoy Exposé, Volume 2, Issue No. 44).

Although Angara is not a candidate for next year, having been elected for his second term in 2019, other senators known for pushing for the defunding of the BDP and the NTF-ELCAC are candidates.

They include Sen. Risa Hontiveros, Sen. Grace Poe, Sen. Franklin Drilon, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian and Sen. Francis ‘Kiko’ Pangilinan.

Despite being barely 2 years old, the BDP has proven effective in restoring the support and faith to the government of the country’s poorest villages that became the stronghold of terrorists due to decades-long government neglect.

The BDP is used to assist villages and communities who have been cleared of CPP presence and influence through projects and activities that residents themselves have identified. Each beneficiary community receives a minimum amount of P20 million.

This year, P16.4 billion is being used for the BDP in serving the needs of 822 former CPP-controlled villages. Next year, target beneficiaries involved 1,406 poor communities.

Dayanghirang pointed out that while Davao Oriental was declared already “insurgency-free” in 2013, the CPP and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA) have been active in recovering their lost grounds.

Although Angara is not a candidate for next year, having been elected for his second term in 2019, other senators known for pushing for the defunding of the BDP and the NTF-ELCAC are candidates. They include Sen. Risa Hontiveros, Sen. Grace Poe, Sen. Franklin Drilon, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian and Sen. Francis ‘Kiko’ Pangilinan.

“It was only when basic infrastructure and services through the SBDP were initiated in far-flung barangays that the local government units (LGUs) are again winning the war against communist terrorist groups (CTGs).

“The people will lose their trust in the government if the promised projects do not materialize,” Dayanghirang warned.

On the other hand, Yap said that through the years, the government has invested more than P30-billion to make Bohol a tourism destination, including a new airport and ports and they need at least P5-billion more for these much needed local access road projects that will hopefully bring farm goods to the markets.

The Bohol governor estimated that Bohol is capable of earning P15 billion to P20 billion a year as a tourism, trade, and commerce hub and the proposed SBDP-funded local road projects is “the missing key to the province’s economic recovery amid the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Evardone, himself a former CPP cadre, said the “pandemic of insurgency” has lasted much longer than COVID-19.

He said the government is on the verge of defeating terrorism and the freed barangays are the ones who direly need government support, thus, the SBDP funds must not be withheld.

“In the case of Bohol, scrapping the SBDP projects might reignite insurgency there.

“What will happen to all that the government has invested in it? Same with Eastern Samar. Magkakaroon uli ng peace and order issue at imbes na mawala ay lumakas at kumalat ang insurgency,” Evardone stressed.

As far back as September, even before the start of the annual budget exercise, the League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) had passed a resolution (Resolution 2021-009) supporting the government’s anti-insurgency program. The LPP also called on the Senate to approve, in full, the proposed SBDP budget for next year.

Constantino, for his part, said the beneficiaries of the SBDP projects in Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro are the indigenous people, who “comprise the bulk of recruitment by CTGs dahil nasa malalayong lugar at di maramdaman ang serbisyo ng gobyerno.”

He said the Serbisyo Caravans of the NTF-ELCAC have greatly benefitted his constituents and brought government presence to far-flung communities.

Constantino recalled that his municipality was a hotbed of insurgency in the 1980s and the CTGs even took over the municipal hall in 1988.

“It’s very important to sustain the gains of the government now that the people have realized who really cares for them. Where the road ends, that’s where terrorism begins.

“Where the light does not shine, that’s where terrorism begins,” Constantino added.

Although Angara is not a candidate for next year, having been elected for his second term in 2019, other senators known for pushing for the defunding of the BDP and the NTF-ELCAC are candidates.