The communist insurgency in the country is an “immediate” political security threat that must be resolved in the last two years of President Duterte’s term.
PCOO / MANILA BULLETIN
This was disclosed by National Security Adviser (NSA) Hermogenes Esperon Jr. Friday as he defended the P16.44-billion budget allocation of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) for its “support operations” to the Barangay Development Program in 2021.
According to Esperon, while the COVID-19 pandemic remains to be the “most urgent” threat that the country currently faces other concerns, such as the Commmunist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing New People’s Army (NPA), should not be taken for granted.
“The most urgent threat we are facing right now is the COVID-19. We really are spending a lot to address this because it is our priority,” said Esperon, who also serves as the vice chairman of the NTF-ELCAC, in a virtual presser.
“But we still have other concerns. Number one is the political security threat, it is actually the CPP-NPA because they seek to overthrow the democractic form of government and change it to what they call democratic centralism or dictatorship,” he added.
“This is not at all (a) lump sum allocation,” he said.
“That is just to signify that they all fall under the Barangay Development Program,” he added.
Esperon said the P16.44 billion worth of funds is not pork barrel and added that they are just implementing programs that will help put an end to the armed conflict in Mindanao.
“Hindi ko alam yung pork barrel na sinasabi niyo. Kami po ay nagpapatupad lang ng programa (I don’t even know anything about that pork barrel stuff. We are just implementing programs),” he said.
“Kung meron mang isang tao na gustong wakasan ang communist armed conflict, isa po ako doon (If there is one person who really wants to end the communist armed conflict, it’s me. I’m one of those people),” he added.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon and Bayan Muna Representative Ferdinand Gaite earlier questioned the NTF-ELCAC’s allocated budget for the Barangay Development Program, saying that other government agencies directly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic have been given lower budgets.
Accordingly, these agencies include the Department of Labor and Employment (P15.9 billion), Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (P7.5 billion), Department of Tourism (P3.5 billion), and Department of Trade and Industry (P5.5 billion).
In his webinar, Esperon invited lawmakers — particularly Bayan Muna Representative Ferdinand Gaite — who have expressed reservations about the NTF-ELCAC’s budget — to witness the implementation of the said projects.
Esperon questioned the motives behind Gaite’s comments on the budget allocation and accused him of objecting to the empowerment and development of vulnerable communities.
Esperon said that the Barangay Development Program seeks to deliver development programs in conflicted and geographically-isolated areas as part of counter-measures against communist insurgency.
Esperon argued that eliminating communist insurgency is one of the priorities of Duterte which, according to the security adviser, was made clear during the State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July.
“Sabi ni Presidente noong SONA, we must end now the communist armed conflict. Kailangan mawala na ito para maka-takeoff tayo lalo sa non-urban areas na napakalaki ng assets natin na nandyan (The President said in his SONA that we must end now the communist armed conflict. We need to eradicate it so that we can takeoff especially in non-urban areas where we have big assets),” he said.
From 2016 to 2019, Esperon said a total of 822 barangay were already cleared of communist insurgency by joint government forces.
In support to the Barangay Development Program, each cleared barangay will be given P20 million for the construction of various infrastructures including a concrete farm-to market road (P12 million), a school building with four classrooms (P3 million), water and sanitation systems (P2 million), national greening or forest protection program (P1.5 million), and health stations (P1.5 million).
“What they (lawmakers) do not know is that this fund, P20 million per barangay, comes from the different agencies but are converts or coordinated by NF-ELCAC. This will be released to the regions where the barangays are located,” Esperon said.
Meanwhile, about 609 barangays were also cleared but a validation from NTF-ELCAC is still pending while 2,739 barangays are classified as “threatened” by communist insurgency.
Each barangay that are still being validated will also be given P20 million while threatened barangays will receive P1.5 million.
The implementation of the development projects will then be jointly supervised by the local government units and Regional Task Force-ELCAC.
“This is a reflection of good governance by way of converging our projects. Sa isang lugar dinadala ang projects na hindi paisa-isa (We bring all the projects in a particular area, not one by one),” Esperon said.
If this is implemented, Esperon believes that the threat of communist insurgency will be greatly diminished, if not totally crushed.
“Hindi ko masabi na matatapos ito (I personally cannot say that it will be done) in two years’ time but I am very confident that with the leadership of the President, siya ang nag-approve ng (he is the one who approved the) Barangay Development Program. Talagang sinusuportahan niya ito (he really supports it),” he said.
This was disclosed by National Security Adviser (NSA) Hermogenes Esperon Jr. Friday as he defended the P16.44-billion budget allocation of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) for its “support operations” to the Barangay Development Program in 2021.
According to Esperon, while the COVID-19 pandemic remains to be the “most urgent” threat that the country currently faces other concerns, such as the Commmunist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing New People’s Army (NPA), should not be taken for granted.
“The most urgent threat we are facing right now is the COVID-19. We really are spending a lot to address this because it is our priority,” said Esperon, who also serves as the vice chairman of the NTF-ELCAC, in a virtual presser.
“But we still have other concerns. Number one is the political security threat, it is actually the CPP-NPA because they seek to overthrow the democractic form of government and change it to what they call democratic centralism or dictatorship,” he added.
“This is not at all (a) lump sum allocation,” he said.
“That is just to signify that they all fall under the Barangay Development Program,” he added.
Esperon said the P16.44 billion worth of funds is not pork barrel and added that they are just implementing programs that will help put an end to the armed conflict in Mindanao.
“Hindi ko alam yung pork barrel na sinasabi niyo. Kami po ay nagpapatupad lang ng programa (I don’t even know anything about that pork barrel stuff. We are just implementing programs),” he said.
“Kung meron mang isang tao na gustong wakasan ang communist armed conflict, isa po ako doon (If there is one person who really wants to end the communist armed conflict, it’s me. I’m one of those people),” he added.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon and Bayan Muna Representative Ferdinand Gaite earlier questioned the NTF-ELCAC’s allocated budget for the Barangay Development Program, saying that other government agencies directly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic have been given lower budgets.
Accordingly, these agencies include the Department of Labor and Employment (P15.9 billion), Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (P7.5 billion), Department of Tourism (P3.5 billion), and Department of Trade and Industry (P5.5 billion).
In his webinar, Esperon invited lawmakers — particularly Bayan Muna Representative Ferdinand Gaite — who have expressed reservations about the NTF-ELCAC’s budget — to witness the implementation of the said projects.
Esperon questioned the motives behind Gaite’s comments on the budget allocation and accused him of objecting to the empowerment and development of vulnerable communities.
Esperon said that the Barangay Development Program seeks to deliver development programs in conflicted and geographically-isolated areas as part of counter-measures against communist insurgency.
Esperon argued that eliminating communist insurgency is one of the priorities of Duterte which, according to the security adviser, was made clear during the State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July.
“Sabi ni Presidente noong SONA, we must end now the communist armed conflict. Kailangan mawala na ito para maka-takeoff tayo lalo sa non-urban areas na napakalaki ng assets natin na nandyan (The President said in his SONA that we must end now the communist armed conflict. We need to eradicate it so that we can takeoff especially in non-urban areas where we have big assets),” he said.
From 2016 to 2019, Esperon said a total of 822 barangay were already cleared of communist insurgency by joint government forces.
In support to the Barangay Development Program, each cleared barangay will be given P20 million for the construction of various infrastructures including a concrete farm-to market road (P12 million), a school building with four classrooms (P3 million), water and sanitation systems (P2 million), national greening or forest protection program (P1.5 million), and health stations (P1.5 million).
“What they (lawmakers) do not know is that this fund, P20 million per barangay, comes from the different agencies but are converts or coordinated by NF-ELCAC. This will be released to the regions where the barangays are located,” Esperon said.
Meanwhile, about 609 barangays were also cleared but a validation from NTF-ELCAC is still pending while 2,739 barangays are classified as “threatened” by communist insurgency.
Each barangay that are still being validated will also be given P20 million while threatened barangays will receive P1.5 million.
The implementation of the development projects will then be jointly supervised by the local government units and Regional Task Force-ELCAC.
“This is a reflection of good governance by way of converging our projects. Sa isang lugar dinadala ang projects na hindi paisa-isa (We bring all the projects in a particular area, not one by one),” Esperon said.
If this is implemented, Esperon believes that the threat of communist insurgency will be greatly diminished, if not totally crushed.
“Hindi ko masabi na matatapos ito (I personally cannot say that it will be done) in two years’ time but I am very confident that with the leadership of the President, siya ang nag-approve ng (he is the one who approved the) Barangay Development Program. Talagang sinusuportahan niya ito (he really supports it),” he said.
https://mb.com.ph/2020/09/11/esperon-debunks-pork-barrel-tag-on-p16-4-b-budget-for-barangay-devt-program/
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