TACLOBAN CITY - The Provincial Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (ELCAC) in Eastern Samar unanimously passed a resolution withdrawing its support for all presidential and senatorial candidates who are against the inclusion of its funds in next year's national budget.
Governor Ben Evardone said among those who approved the resolution were 45 barangay captains and 10 mayors in the ELCAC areas.
The said resolution was sponsored by Can-avid town Mayor Gil Norman Germino and seconded by Giporlos Mayor Gilbert Go.
"These cleared barangays under ELCAC will continue to be underdeveloped if government programs and projects are stopped by the opposition," he stressed, citing that they have long been neglected by the national government.
He added that there is also a great possibility that the people in the said barangays will go back to supporting the communist New People's Army if the projects implemented in their areas are stopped."
"The government will lose its credibility. It will be exploited by the communists. Those opposing the ELCAC funds do not know the real situation in the far-flung barangays," he pointed out.
The Senate has slashed P24 billion in the 2022 proposed budget for anti-insurgency, leaving only a P4 billion budget allocation for next year.