The National Task Force to End Local Communist Program (NTF-ELCAC) recommended to President Marcos Jr. on Wednesday, March 26, the inclusion of 280 barangays that were cleared of influence and threat from local terrorist groups in the Barangay Development Program (BDP).
Undersecretary Ernesto Torres Jr., executive director of NTF-ELCAC, said the targeted barangays are located in Zamboanga City, Sulu, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Sur, and Basilan.
A flagship program of the NTF-ELCAC, the BDP aims to improve the quality of life for residents in conflict-prone and conflict-affected barangays by implementing socio-economic interventions such as the establishment of farm-to-market roads, schools, health stations, and livelihood sources.
The original beneficiaries of the BDP are barangays cleared of influence and threat from the Communist Party of the Philippines – New People’s Army – National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).
But Torres said communities freed from the influence and threat of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), Dawlah Islamiyah (DI), and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) should also be assisted by the government to ensure that the residents would no longer be enticed to join the local extremist and terrorist groups.
“It was recommended by the Executive Committee to the President for the inclusion of such barangays that were cleared by our security forces from the local terrorist groups,” Torres said in a press conference after the seventh NTF-ELCAC Executive Committee meeting led by Marcos in Malacañan.
Torres said Sulu, Lanao del Sur, and Zamboanga City will first be beneficiaries of the Retooled Community Support Program (RCSP) beginning 2026 before being included in the BDP in 2027.
The RCSP is a program that aims to address the issues identified by the communities themselves through the provision of government projects while ensuring sustainable development and promoting peace. It was conceptualized by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to support the objectives of Executive Order 70, which established the NTF-ELCAC.
Then, Maguindanao del Sur and Basilan will follow as beneficiaries of the RCSP in 2027, and BDP in 2028, coinciding with the end of Marcos’ term as the president.
Torres said the NTF-ELCAC proposed an additional budget of P73 million per year for the RCSP of the 280 barangays, and another P2.8 billion for their BDP since it wants each barangay to be allocated with P10,000,000 per year.
“We are happy to note from the President himself that he would sustain the implementation of the Barangay Development Program because this is our commitment to those barangays that were formerly influenced by the CPP-NPA-NDF,” Torres said.
From 2021 to 2025, the NTF-ELCAC executive director said a total of 4,830 "communist-freed" barangays are currently being served under the BDP. In 2025 alone, a total of 780 barangays are being served under the BDP with a budget allocation of P2.5 million per barangay.
“But then we still have to serve more than 3,000 barangays up to 2028. So schemes and funding efforts, funding on how to generate the necessary fund for the BDP in more than 3,000 barangays was discussed a while ago, and there is that commitment from the government to finish the implementation of, to complete the implementation of the BDP on or before the end of this term of this administration,” Torres said.
Meanwhile, the NTF-ELCAC repeated that there remains only one “weakened” guerilla front of the NPA. It is located in Camarines Sur.
The number of NPA fighters was estimated at 1,050 and they are “scattered and isolated” in some parts of the country.
“This remaining weakened guerrilla front will be dismantled within the year,” said National Security Council (NSC) Asst. Director-General Jonathan Malaya.