WITH members of Congress feeling their personal pride “pricked” by a remark made by National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), spokesperson, Lt. General Antonio ‘Jun’ Parlade, lawmakers appear to be closing ranks to defund the task force that would, in the end, “punish” the country’s poorest communities.
In separate statements last week, Senate President Vicente Sotto III, Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, Sen. Richard Gordon and Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, among others, took turns in blasting Parlade, who, in an interview with CNN Phils. last April 22, 2021, warned that efforts by lawmakers, Drilon in particular, to “defund” the task force would be a “stupid” decision.
He noted that it was the lawmakers who approved the budget of the task force for 2021, after careful review and deliberation and that suddenly removing its fund while projects are now already under implementation would be “unfair.”
Drilon and his colleagues in the Liberal Party (LP) and their communist allies in Congress under the ‘Makabayan Bloc’ not only voted against the allocation of any money for the NTF-ELCAC last year but had also repeatedly called for the removal of Parlade in the task force.
Despite their noise however, Congress agreed to appropriate more than P19 billion to the task force this year for its operational and administrative needs and with the bulk of the amount, P16.4 billion, to be used to help develop some 822 barangays in the country under its ‘Barangay Development Program’ (BDP).
These villages were previously strongholds of terrorists, the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army (CPP-NPA). The government believes that giving them a chance towards progress and development after decades of neglect would help them resist being tempted back to the communist fold.
In separate interviews, both Sotto and Gatchalian appeared to have considered Parlade’s remark as a personal insult, with Sotto, saying the task force had to be “defanged” and Gatchalian tempting the government to axe Parlade in exchange of having a pass on its current budget.
“His removal (Parlade) would be a good sign for me,” Gatchalian said.
Gordon, for his part, has his own harsh word for the task force, calling it and its members, “imbecilic.”
Poor IP communities to suffer
In a statement last April 25, 2021, Allen Capuyan, task force executive director and chair, National Commission for Indigenous People (NICP), reminded lawmakers that of the 822 village beneficiaries, 350 of them are located in the country’s ‘ancestral domains,’ the homes of the country’s original settlers, the indigenous peoples, that “have been long neglected of development.”
He also again debunked the yarn of Drilon that the BDP is “for the 2022 elections” by stressing there is “nothing political” in choosing the beneficiaries.
“(They) are ‘historical’ list of cleared barangays (from CPP-NPA control) from 2016-2019 as a result of the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) operations through the conduct of ‘community support program’ (CSP) now enhanced by the DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government) through its revised CSP,” Capuyan said.
“If the BDP will be defunded, it is as if we (deprive) the local chief executives and the masses of the opportunity to implement the long-needed government services in the countryside especially, our neglected ICCs/IPs ancestral domains,” the official added.
Capuyan also stressed that all fund releases went directly to the LGUs from the Department of Budget and Management and not to the task force first.
‘We have nothing to gain personally’—Esperon
In a bid to douse cold water on the issue, National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon, also former Armed Forces chief and NTF-ELCAC vice chair, confirmed on April 25, 2021, that he has issued a ‘gag order’ on Parlade and presidential communications undersecretary, Lorraine Badoy.
Their holding back, Esperon stressed, only refers to the sprouting up of ‘community pantries’ in the country, the first of which was started in Teachers’ Village, Quezon City, last April 14, 2021 by a former student activist whose group at the University of the Philippines (UP) has been known as among those suspected to have been created by the CPP.
It was Parlade’s warning over the background of the CP organizer, Ana Patricia Non, that started another round of anti-task force comments many of which are accusing Parlade of ‘profiling’ and ‘red-tagging.’
“Yes, I did (issued gag order) if only to emphasize that NTF-ELCAC or Gen. Parlade or Usec. Badoy are not against bayanihan or community pantries,” Esperon told CNN Phils.
“Lest it be misunderstood, they will desist from making statements on community pantries. And NTF- ELCAC will support, observe and assist CPs, as does the whole of government,” he added.
Esperon in a statement also reminded lawmakers that government officials sitting at the NTF-ELCAC have “nothing to gain (personally) from the BDP apart from the fulfillment of our mandate” (of ending the communist terrorist threat before Pres. Duterte steps down).
“The BDP, as it is, denies the CPP-NPA-NDF the opportunity to take back what was formerly their playground and strongholds,” Esperon added further.
Esperon, who was also previously Solcom chief, said the BDP was conceptualized with the purpose of bringing sustainable grassroots development and empowerment to communities susceptible to recruitment into the insurgency.
“The government has recognized that, indeed, the root causes which sustain the insurgency are borne out of the desperation and frustration of disgruntled communities which end up getting influenced and threatened by the presence of the CPP-NPA-NDF,” Esperon explained further.
Only the best interest of the country
As of April 23, 2021, Esperon, anticipating the demand of Drilon and other lawmakers for an “audit” of fund disbursement, said that already, 525 villages, out of the 822 village-beneficiaries, have endorsed their respective programs and projects to the DBM while the remaining 237 are already finalizing their own.
After validation at the national level, Esperon said that a budget of P9.66 billion are ready for release to the concerned provincial and local government units, benefiting 483 villages.
“Note that these will not be released in cash but in the form of projects earlier described, to the LGUs of the identified barangay recipients,” Esperon stressed.
“It is fairly easy to make speculations thus far on misuse of BDP funds,” Esperon said. “But to substantiate allegations is a matter that requires comprehensive investigation altogether.”
Esperon also said that as the BDP is now on the “cusp of implementation,” the public is encouraged to report “incidents of misuse, abuse of authority and malversation” to concerned government agencies such as the Ombudsman or directly to Malacañang thru the 8888 citizen complaint center hotline.
“We finally have the means to end the divisive conflict that has handicapped this country through the empowerment and development of communities which are vulnerable to the deceit of the CPP-NPA-NDF.
“Rest assured the NTF-ELCAC has in mind only the best interest of this country,” Esperon added.