Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Wednesday said that the criticisms by some lawmakers against the funding of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) are misplaced.
In a television interview, he pointed out that if these lawmakers are objecting to the funding of the anti-insurgency task force, they are also objecting to the development of some barangays.
“Ang masasabi ko lang ay mukhang misplaced naman yung kanilang mga objection (I can only say that it seems their objection was misplaced),” he said.
He said that the funds of the NTF-ELCAC will go to the barangays that will be used for different projects
Lorenzana called on the lawmakers to explain their position considering that these projects will be stopped without the funding.
On Tuesday, senators questioned the proposed P28.1 billion budget for the NTF-ELCAC even as the country was struggling against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Senator Nancy Binay pointed out that the budget of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) was slashed by 170 million.
“What’s happening? Ang kalaban natin ay Covid. Mas importante ba ang ELCAC kaysa RITM? It does not make sense. Government seems to be removed from the realities on the ground,” Binay said.
(The enemy is COVID. Is the ELCAC more important than the RITM?)
The proposed budget of the RITM was slashed to P223 million in 2022 from 2021’s P393 million, while the budget for the NTF-ELCAC rose to P28.1 billion.
Also, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon proposed to cut the anti-insurgency funding to the social amelioration program.
“We can remove this item or channel the funds to ayuda… Given our limited resources, we must prioritize ayuda over NTF-ELCAC. We must cut funding for the security sector in favor of the social services sector,” he said.
Malacañang had earlier justified the NTF-ELCAC’s budget, arguing that the insurgency needed to be addressed even during the current crisis. —Joviland Rita/NB, GMA News
0 Comments