NTF-ELCAC budget should be realigned for 'ayuda'

House Deputy Minority leader Rep. France Castro on Wednesday, November 30 said the P10-billion proposed budget of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) should not be restored and instead be realigned to the government’s financial assistance program for indigent families.

The ACT Teachers party-list made the remark as House members of the bicameral conference committee are trying to reconcile the House and Senate versions.

House lawmakers who are part of the bicameral panel are moving to fully restore the red-tagging agencies budget, thereby, undercutting the will of the House of Representatives.

“We debated and scrutinized the budget of the NTF-ELCAC and was decided in the plenary to reduce the budget and now they want to set aside this decision? Why did we have to debate on it?” he pointed out.

"What' s more is that the NTF-ELCAC is not equipped for the projects that was placed under it,” he added.

In 2021, only 48 percent of its projects under the Support for Baranggay Development Program were completed, and in 2022 only two percent were completed.

“If we are able to realign the P10-billion for ‘ayuda’, 1 million families will be able to get P10,000. And around five million Filipinos will benefit from it,” he said.

The lawmaker warned that if the NTF-ELCAC budget is restored, it would seem that Congress is rewarding incompetence and red-tagging.

“I hope that the House leadership would reconsider so that people will see that Congress would help them get aid rather than waste their hard earned money on red-taggers,” Castro said.

Senate Finance Committee chief Sen. Sonny Angara, however, denied the allegations.

“The Senate did not slash any amount from the program but we are certainly willing to work with the House for any upward adjustments,” he said.