MANILA – Nearly 24,000 communist rebels who surrendered to the government are ample proof of the effectiveness of the “whole-of-nation approach” being enacted under Executive Order No. 70 of President Rodrigo Duterte, which established the National Task Force to End Local Communists Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), clearing the road for genuine and sustainable peace.
This was the statement issued by the NTF-ELCAC during its weekly virtual press conference, through Spokesperson for Sectoral Concerns and Presidential Communications Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy, in response to the baseless remarks made by imprisoned and reelectionist Senator Leila de Lima about the task force’s alleged failure.
“She must have been talking about herself as she is in a desperate situation. She’s (in jail) for being corrupt. Very unfit for national office,” Badoy said, referring to de Lima who served as Justice Secretary during the Aquino administration and who has been detained in Camp Crame since 2017 for illegal drug trading.
In support of Badoy’s statement, Navy Capt. Ferdinand Buscato, Executive Director of Task Force Balik Loob, said that among the 23,641 former members of various communist terrorist groups (CTGs) who surrendered to government authorities, 2,052 are considered “violent extremists”.
According to Buscato, the majority of the former communist rebels who surrendered are now enjoying the benefits of their return to the fold of the law, having been reintegrated into society with the help of the NTF-ELCAC, including livelihood for their families.
“We are also hoping that the next administration will continue these programs,” Buscato said.
Director Monico Batle, NTF-ELCAC Action Officer for Barangay Development Program (BDP), on the other hand, said the first batch of 822 barangays formerly exploited by the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed group of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), are living peacefully thanks to the various development projects already in place funded through the BDP.
The second batch of 1,406 barangays cleared of the CTGs, he said, is also expected to get PHP20 million worth of projects like the first batch despite the unilateral decision of the Senate to slash the BDP.
“The Department of Agriculture has agreed to shoulder PHP12 million intended for farm to market roads which is very important for this barangay even if it is only good for 1 kilometer while other projects will be shouldered directly by the local government units”, Batle said, as the Senate last year only gave PHP4 million instead of PHP20 million for each barangay.
“The third batch (of barangays) will also include those formerly called red areas even before the term of President Duterte began, covering the period from 2011 to 2015,” Batle said, adding that a total of 1,550 barangays for the third batch are already included in the BDP.
Whoever will lead the country as the next president, he added, is legally barred from interfering with these projects as they are already made into law and included in the General Appropriations Act.
“Kaya dapat matuto tayong bumoto at pumili lalo na ng mga senador (So we should learn how to vote, especially senators),” Batle said as he encouraged his countrymen to help the NTF-ELCAC to continue the programs geared to end the more than five-decades old communists’ insurgency.
bossa nova jazz