The provincial government of Bukidnon has sent the Senate a resolution, appealing that it reconsider its decision to slash the budget of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) by P24 billion.

The resolution, approved by the provincial board, said the Senate move would adversely affect the government’s barangay development program to communities of special concerns especially in the province. 

Called as the generals’ pork barrel, the Senate reduced the NTF-ELCAC’s 2022 budget to P4 billion from its proposed P28 billion. 

This year, the NTF-ELCAC has been given a P19-billion  budget. 

Provincial board member Oliver Owen Garcia on Friday, November 26, said the Sangguniang Panlalawigan passed Resolution No. 2021-3724 as a show of support to NTF-ELCAC given how Bukidnon benefited from the campaign to end the decades-old communist insurgency problem in the province.

Garcia, the chairman of the provincial board’s peace and order committee, cited the capture of ranking New People’s Army (NPA) rebels and the surrender of many guerrillas in Bukidnon.

It was also in the Bukidnon town of Impasug-ong where the military killed NPA chief Jorge “Ka Oris” Madlos in late October.

These show, according to Garcia, that the government’s anti-insurgency campaign was succeeding in the “neutralization” of the communist guerrilla forces.

“The NTF-ELCAC has effectively addressed the root cause of insurgency by bringing infrastructure projects to conflict-stricken barangays and indigenous peoples’ communities through livelihood opportunities, assistance, and social services they need most,” read part of the resolution that Garcia authored. 

Bukidnon Governor Jose Maria Zubiri Jr., who urged the provincial board to craft the resolution, said he was disappointed with the Senate’s move to cut the budget because there were 71 barangays in 14 municipalities in the province where NTF-ELCAC projects were ongoing. 

Each of the barangay received P20 million for mostly access roads, water systems, classroom repairs, and day care centers, among others. 

Officials said Bukidnon alone received P1.4 billion of this year’s P19-billion NTF-ELCAC funds, or 7.3%, for projects completed as of April.

Next to the Davao region, northern Mindanao, particularly Bukidnon, received the biggest chunk of the task force’s budget. 

“We are now reaping the benefits of the programs under NTF-ELCAC that are geared toward better development,” said Zubiri.

In 2022, another 81 barangays in Bukidnon are supposed to receive similar projects through the NTF-ELCAC, but the reduced budget could change things.

Bukidnon, dubbed as northern Mindanao’s food basket, has an approved annual budget of P5.2 billion in 2022. 

Marco Valbuena, chief information officer of the CPP-NPA, said Zubiri’s support to the NTF-ELCAC was expected because Bukidnon cornered a huge amount of the task force’s budget.

But he questioned the projects, especially the roads, alleging that these tend to benefit mining firms, and plantations owned by big companies rather than villagers.

“Can Zubiri show proof that these funds have been used to implement genuine agrarian reform? These are concrete solutions to the root cause of the conflict in Bukidnon and elsewhere in the country,” Valbuena said. 

In an online forum, retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said the NTF-ELCAC funds, if left unchecked, could be misused or, worse, used for vote-buying.

Carpio noted that the task force,  a “civilian entity” under the Office of the President, has been releasing P20 million to barangays supposedly cleared of communist insurgency as determined by NTF-ELCAC. 

“This means the President can dole out P20 million to any barangay he chooses. This will debilitate the opposition in the 2022 national elections,” said Carpio. 

Carpio said the task force should be prohibited from releasing funds 45 days before the elections similar to funds for public works and social services. 

Grace Cantal-Albasin is a Mindanao-based journalist and an awardee of Aries Rufo Journalism Fellowship