The Duterte administration will continue to carry out projects for conflict-affected areas and areas that were identified to have been freed from the influence of leftist groups.
Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar gave this assurance in a statement Saturday, Oct. 23, even as the Chief Executive recently noted that communist rebel group New People's Army (NPA) has been losing its influence over Filipinos .
Andanar recently visited Negros Oriental to promote the Duterte Legacy campaign to local media and to the local government units (LGU) there.
“There were projects that might have been deferred due to various reasons but rest assured that the government will continue to implement these projects until the end of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s term,” he said in an interview over Radyo Kaigsoonan.
Andanar says that among the reasons for the deferral of the implementation of the anti-insurgency initiatives is political, as some legislators remain doubtful even when the direct beneficiaries, the LGUs, have already spoken about how beneficial these would be to them.
Duterte will step down from Malacañang on June 30, 2022.
In Negros Oriental, the Local Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (LTF-ELCAC) has identified 26 areas that were included for the proposed 2022 allocation under the Support to Barangay Development Program (SBDP) of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). The province was not included in this year's SBDP allocation.
The ELCAC-priority barangays in the province include Trinidad, Binobohan, Sandayao, Tacpao, Imelda, Hinakpan, Humay-humay, Planas, Balogo, Poblacion, Villegas, Palagatasanon, and Nagsaha--all in Guihulngan City.
In Canlaon City: Bayog, Lumapao, and Budlasan; Majuyod: Panciao; Mabinay: Luyang, Bagtic, ans Samac; Valencia: Dobdob; Sta. Catalina: Talalak and San Pedro; Siaton: Tayak; and in the town of Zamboanguita: Calango and Mayabon.
Under the SBDP, each cleared barangay will receive up to P20 million worth of project assistance for the construction of various infrastructure projects, including farm-to-market roads, water and sanitation systems, agricultural livelihood opportunities, and technical vocational training.
During Andanar’s courtesy call in Zamboanguita, Mayor Glenson Alanano personally expressed his gratitude to the PCOO chief for being one of the people who helped in expediting the release of funds for the road concreting project of a barangay road at Barangay Nabago and Malongcay Diot.