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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Solon: Marcos gov't should rechannel NTF-ELCAC funds to fuel subsidies for Occidental Mindoro 

Solon: Marcos gov't should rechannel NTF-ELCAC funds to fuel subsidies for Occidental Mindoro 

Published May 1, 2023 05:33 am
  House Deputy Minority leader and ACT Teacher's party-list  Rep. France Castro on Monday, May 1, urged the Marcos administration to rechannel the budget of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) to fund the fuel subsidies for Occidental Mindoro.   "Nasasayang lang talaga ang pera ng taumbayan sa P10-bilyong pondo inilaan sa NTF-ELCAC (The people's money is really wasted in the P10-billion fund allocated to NTF-ELCAC.    In 2022, Castro noted that 12 barangays were given P20-million each under the Barangay Development Program (BDP). But the fund was not even used to ensure there is electricity in the province which the barangay constituents badly needed.   “Ngayon ay 6 na baranggay naman daw sa probinsya ang may P6.6-milyon kada isa (Now it is said that six barangays in the province each have P6.6-million),” she said.   "It must also be noted  that the Commission on Audit (COA) itself has trained its sights on the BDP in particular and the NYF-ELCAC in general. As it is, COA in its 2020 Annual Financial Report found ‘incomplete documentation, low fund utilization and unutilized funds, unauthorized fund transfers and lack of guidelines on the use of funds’ in the implementation of NTF-ELCAC projects in member-agencies like the DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government)," she added.   While in the 2021 BDP funds, she said they have already pointed out its extremely  low utilization of less than 50 percent accomplishment rate as of December 2022.   Castro noted that based on the Local Budget Circular No. 151 released by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) 4.1, the SBDP shall be used by the 959 cleared barangays listed in Annex A either for farm-tomarket road, school building, water and sanitation system; health stations; and electrification, (projects),” said the deputy minority leader.   "But with the NTF-ELCAC's dismal implementation of its projects, it would be best that  not just the funds for the Occidental Mindoro baranggays are utilized for the fuel subsidies of the whole province and even that of Oriental Mindoro so that the charges would not be passwd through the province's electricity consumers or all electricity consumers of the country thru the universal charge,” the solon said.   

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