NTF-ELCAC submits to Senate barangay dev’t report
THE National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) has submitted to Congress the required accomplishment reports of the Barangay Development Program (BDP) for the three quarters of this year.
NTF-ELCAC vice chairman Hermogenes Esperon Jr. made the clarification in response to the claims of some senators that the task force failed to report the utilization of the 2021 budget, amounting to P16.44 billion.
In a statement, Esperon stressed that the P16.44 billion total fund of the BDP were utilized, monitored and disseminated by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) with transparency.
Earlier, the Senate committee on finance has trimmed down the NTF-ELCAC budget from the proposed P28 billion to just P4 billion allegedly due to failure of the agency to provide Congress with detailed reports on the utilization of the P16.44 billion budget for this year
“I categorially state that the NTF-ELCAC has not been remiss in its reportorial requirements in connection with the P16.4 billion. Nonetheless we will continue to reach out and explain to our lawmakers the progress of the implementation of the BDP. Our mandate to the people includes not just the facilitation of inclusive development and sustainable peace initiatives, but also transparency and accountability to the people whose taxes have funded this nationwide undertaking,” Esperon said.
For this year, the P16.44 billion has benefitted 822 barangays in 39 provinces or covering 2,029 infrastructure projects like farm-to-market roads, water sanitation system, health station, school building, electrification, housing and 289 non-infrastructure projects such as agricultural and livelihood; COVID-19 health related projects and assistance to indigent families.
Esperon said of the 2,318 BDP projects, 26 have already been completed while 582 are currently ongoing. The 1,047 are on the procurement stage and 663 are on pre-procurement stage.
For 2022, the proposal of the NTF-ELCAC is to provide BDP to 1,406 barangays because they were already cleared from the influence of the New People’s Army (NPA) and other communist terrorist groups (CTG).
He pointed out that upon the release of the Notice of Authority to Debit Account Issued (NADAI) to the local government units concerned, the funds are now deemed available for use in the procurement process. However, due to procedural requirements of the procurement law, implementation of some projects has started in April 2021.
“While we are aware that the fund utilization is up to December 21, 2022, we are confident that most, if not all, of the 2,318 projects will be completed by the middle of 2022. The NTF-ELCAC has been submitting the required reports in coordination with the DBM and DILG. We take transparency and accountability to heart, as it is the core of our monitoring team of the BDP. In fact, we have created the transparency page of the NTF-ELCAC website where progress reports of the program are listed down to the barangay level,” the National Security Adviser added.
