Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Thursday, April 22, backed calls to defund the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), saying the Duterte government should realign its P19-billion fund allocated to the state’s government cash assistance program for those affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
(Senate of the Philippines / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
“The President should realign the NTF-ELCAC under the 2021 GAA (General Appropriations Act). Now na!” Drilon said in a statement.
“Aanhin mo pa ang damo kung patay na ang kabayo (What is grass good for, if the horse is already dead)?” he added.
From the start, the minority leader said he had objected to the NTF-ELCAC budget during the debates on the 2021 GAA, saying "it was clearly a lump sum pork barrel of Malacanang disguised as anti-insurgency funds."
The bicameral conference committee, however, rejected his amendment.
“For the past weeks, I have been urging the President to realign the anti-insurgency budget to fund the budgeted ‘ayuda’ (aid) to the poor,” Drilon stressed.
“I am glad that my colleagues joined me in that call,” he said.
Among the senators who called to defund the NTF-ELCAC are Senators Joel Villanueva and Sherwin Gatchalian. Senators Nancy Binay and Risa Hontiveros joined the calls as well.
“But we do not have to wait for the 2022 budget debates to defund the NTF-ELCAC,” Drilon pointed out.
The lawmaker also urged the Senate to start hearing his Senate Bill No. 2121, which seeks to criminalize red-tagging.
“I have filed an anti-red tagging bill, criminalizing and punishing this practice. I urge the Senate leadership to hear this bill as soon as possible,” he said.