MORNING, AFTERNOON MARATHON SESSION: DAY 2: At the continuation of the morning and afternoon hybrid plenary deliberations on the proposed 2022 national budget Thursday, November 11, 2021, Finance Committee chairperson Sen. Sonny Angara defends the proposed budget of the Department of Budget and Management for next year. Senate PRIB photo / Voltaire F. Domingo
MANILA, Philippines 鈥� Only 26 of the total 2,318 projects under the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) Barangay Development Fund worth P16.4 billion have been completed, documents sent to the Senate revealed.
The documents shown by Senate finance committee chair Senator Sonny Angara during the hearing of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) proposed budget on Thursday also showed that 900 projects are still in the pre-procurement stage.
There are also 700 more are in the procurement stage while 560 are still being implemented.
鈥淎nd according to the letter received, of the 2,318 projects to be funded by the P16.4 billion barangay development fund, only 26 have been completed as of today Mr. President.听 And the rest are in various stages of completion, there are I think over 900 in the pre-procurement stage,鈥� Angara told Senate President Vicente Sotto III who inquired about NTF-Elcac鈥檚 explanation.
鈥淭here are over 700 which are in the procurement stage, and there are 560 which are ongoing implementation,鈥� Angara added.
READ: Senate panel gives NTF-Elcac just P4B after a P24B budget cut听
Angara read the documents after Sotto asked whether NTF-ELCAC had already sent out its explanation, which in turn was a reaction to Senator Ronald dela Rosa鈥檚 outburst about the Senate鈥檚 decision to cut the agency鈥檚 funding.
Dela Rosa previously warned that the Senate could be seen as a supporter of the New People鈥檚 Army, if the NTF-Elcac鈥檚 projects aimed at ending communist insurgency and ushering development to communities are halted.
Sotto in response said that cutting the NTF-Elcac funding does not stem from their mandate, but from its failure back then to explain how they used their funds.
Angara shared Sotto鈥檚 views, saying that when the NTF-Elcac funds were cut by P24 billion, they did not have a copy of the report.
鈥淏ut to give background to what the committee did when it cut the budget of the NTF-Elcac, is we had no way of knowing because there was nothing before us.听 We requested all the agencies to submit something, but when we did the cut last week, we had nothing, we had no information.听 This information I鈥檓 reading, we only received this Monday,鈥� he added.
READ: Bato warns: Senate may appear as 鈥楴PA supporter鈥� with NTF-ELCAC fund cut听
But dela Rosa questioned why NTF-Elcac is being singled out, when other agencies have a lot of unfinished or unimplemented projects too.听 In response, Angara said that what they have been doing to NTF-Elcac applies to other agencies who also fail to submit their funding details and those who have a low implementation rate.
鈥淜asi ang sa akin lang, kung ang gawin nating rason kung bakit natin inislash because we are not satisfied with its implementation, marami pang ongoing, marami pang ginagawa, then maybe gano鈥檔 din ang gagawin natin sa lahat ng government agency [鈥 Bakit itong NTF-Elcac pa ang ating (pinag-uusapan),鈥� dela Rosa said.
鈥淎ctually 鈥榶on talaga ang ginagawa natin your Honor, 鈥榩ag mabagal po ang implementation ng isang ahensya, 鈥榩ag mababa po ang utilization, 鈥榩ag mababa ang obligation, we really cut their budgets your Honor,鈥� Angara replied.
Angara also noted that they had to find funding for concerns of health workers and the COVID-19 response itself 鈥� which means NTF-Elcac鈥檚 slashed proposed funds would go to the health sector now.
鈥淲ala pong pondo of special allowances of our health workers, na mainit na issue at that time, because they were threatening to boycott hospitals [鈥 We had to source P51 billion out of existing funds, we cannot just say na 鈥榦h, by the stroke of the pen we add P51 billion to the budget of the government of the Philippines.听 Hindi po natin pwedeng gawin 鈥榶on,鈥� Angara added.
The NTF-Elcac, an office created to usher in development to the countryside to stop the communist influence and insurgency, has been criticized for allegedly being a pork barrel of government agencies inside it.
Several individuals including Vice President Leni Robredo have supported moves to abolish the NTF-Elcac, as the program supposedly is an avenue for the state to abuse and harass its critics.
READ: P28-B NTF-Elcac fund for barangays is 鈥榩ork barrel鈥�, DILG told听
READ: Robredo vows to abolish NTF-ELCAC, create 鈥榗onducive environment鈥� for peace talks听