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Sorsogon ‘cleaning teams’ deployed to make Albay’s roads accessible
MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang sees no problem in the proposal to reallocate a portion of the anti-communist task force’s proposed budget to relief and rehabilitation efforts in communities hit by Super Typhoon Rolly.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said using the budget of the National Task Force to End the Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) to help residents of the Bicol regions, which he called a “hotbed” for the communist insurgency. , falls within the mandate of the working group. .
“The objective of the ELCAC is to promote development in areas with ongoing insurgencies because we know that poverty continues to be the root cause of the insurgency,” Roque said in an interview with CNN Philippines.
“So I don’t think there is any inconsistency with the proposal to spend funds in the areas damaged by the typhoon because it is a fact that Bicol is also a hotbed of insurgency. So that would be within the mandate of the ELCAC ”, he added.
Opposition senator Risa Hontiveros previously proposed that part of the task force’s budget, which had been criticized for calling progressive lawmakers, activists and critics of the administration communist, be better spent on victims of the recent destructive typhoon.
Hontiveros made the statement Tuesday after the hearing on the alleged red labeling by the working group of members of the Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives and some celebrities.
In addition to killing at least 20 people in the Bicol region, Super Typhoon Rolly, the world’s strongest storm this year, also damaged P6 billion worth of agricultural crops and infrastructure.
EDV
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