House deputy minority leader and Bayan Muna Party-list Representative Carlos Isagani Zarate on Saturday, July 17, vowed that the Bayan Muna and the rest of the Makabayan bloc would oppose and block the additional P40 billion Barangay Development fund (BDF) that the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) would request for 2022.

"Aside from the possibility of being used as a huge campaign fund for the administration bets in 2022, these will only further enable the already bloody human rights record of the Duterte administration,’’ Zarate said, calling the funds as "general's pork".

‘’Recall that the regions where there are concentrations of generals' pork show that these are also marked by increase in the number of extrajudicial killings (EJKs), illegal arrests and other human rights violations as the human rights groups noted," he added.

Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año listed Central Visayas, Northern Mindanao, Davao Region, Soccsksargen and Caraga as the "top five regions which received the biggest allocation,’’ he pointed out.

"Based on the Karapatan data however, since President Duterte took office until June, 2021, 206 of the 409 cases of extrajudicial killings transpired in the five regions while 221 of the 487 political prisoners arrested under the Duterte administration were arrested in the same regions," the progressive legislator said.

Zarate further said that the speed of how P16.24-billion BDF funds in 2020 have been released to supposed insurgency-cleared villages need to be scrutinized thoroughly.

He shared fears that the fund might be used as sources for election funds, saying since some generals of the NTF-ELCAC are said to be running for office.

As stated by the DILG, P11.611 billion was earmarked for 926 farm-to-market roads; P2.38 billion for 516 water and sanitation projects; P491 million for 156 health stations; and P569 million for 135 school buildings were programmed among others.

"This agency should be made to account how it squandered public funds in the midst of a severe crisis our country is facing now,’’ Zarate said.

‘’We know that it is already election time and these funds are prone to be used to campaign for the candidates of the NTF-ELCAC,’’ he stressed.

Zarate said he and his group that they go through this budget ‘’with a fine tooth comb especially during the next budget deliberations and put to more useful pandemic intervention programs this P40 billion ’Generals Pork’ for 2022.’’