More senators back initiative to defund ‘red labeling’ task force – Drilon

MANILA, Philippines – Senators from the majority and minority blocs are supporting the realignment of the proposed $ 19.1 billion funding for a multi-agency counter-insurgency task force to increase next year’s budget for housing and government response. to the pandemic, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said Wednesday.

In a Viber message, Drilon said that at least seven senators would likely vote in favor of a partial or full realignment of the 2021 allocation for the National Task Force to End the Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac), which had generated a setback for labeling progressive legislators, activists and critics of the administration as communists and enemies of the state.

Drilon declined to identify the other senators, but said he wanted to realign the entire NTF-Elcac budget himself.

P25B for 6.4 million houses

“We need it for ‘Rolly’ and [coronavirus]”He said, referring to the typhoon (international name: Goni) that swept through the Bicol region and southern Luzon last weekend, causing massive destruction and killing at least 20 people.

Drilon said that by 2021, the government needed P25 billion to build 6.4 million houses in order to “partially” solve the country’s housing problem, which had been exacerbated by the typhoon.

“Let’s divert this huge lump sum to disaster relief programs to help rebuild lives and communities in the areas affected by the typhoon,” he said in a statement.

The move would also help to erase suspicions that the money could be used “to aid the 2022 elections.”

“Instead of using P19 billion to fund soft projects that are prone to corruption, such as agricultural assistance, livelihoods and vocational technical training, scholarships and assistance to indigent individuals or families, the funds should go directly to our kababayan devastated by the recent typhoons, “he said.

Most of NTF-Elcac’s funding, or about P16 billion, had been earmarked for the development of some 820 barangays that had allegedly been liberated from rebel communist influence.

Drilon made the proposal amid growing calls for the Senate to make changes to the proposed P4.5 trillion budget for 2021 approved by the House of Representatives as the government grappled with COVID-19 and the aftermath of Rolly and other recent destructive storms. .

P8B for the health sector

Sen. Risa Hontiveros said she wanted at least P8 billion allocated for the task force to be reallocated to the health sector, including responding to the pandemic. Another P2 billion could be realigned for typhoon relief and rehabilitation, he said.

Hontiveros said other senators can allocate the remaining P9 billion for other purposes.

She expected Senator Sonny Angara, chairman of the finance committee, to accept the proposals when the Senate begins deliberations on the budget next week.

Angara said her committee was considering a supplemental budget to replenish catastrophe funds already used by local government units (LGUs) for their response to the coronavirus, and that there isn’t much left for relief and rehabilitation efforts in areas devastated by Rolly.

He told reporters that his committee was looking for budget line funds that could be readjusted to respond to the disaster.

The detained senator Leila de Lima, a native of Bicol, is pushing for increased appropriations for disaster response in the 2021 budget.

“The calamity fund or the disaster response fund, both for the national government and for local governments, and even more so, the LGUs should obtain a greater and sufficient participation,” said De Lima, president of the social justice panel, in a statement from his cell. at Camp Crame.

He said agencies like the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Department of Health should have more money.

“Not the president’s intelligence and confidential funds. Not the anti-insurgency fund, ”De Lima said. “Enough of the surprise and amazement propaganda mentality! Our leaders must get down to the real and compelling work of good governance. “

In the House of Representatives, the deputy leader of the minority and representative of Bayan Muna, Carlos Zárate, said that the requests for “defunding of the working group on red labeling and dissemination of fake news” “would be very welcome.”

“If we are going to take the P19.1 billion that the NTF-Elcac asks for and use it to make relief packages, we can have at least 38.2 million packages for the more than 2 million people affected by the super typhoon Rolly and even that of Typhoon ‘Fifth’, ”it said in a statement.

“Taxpayer money should be used for something productive and to help others, not spreading lies and false news,” Zarate said.

People, especially in Bicol, would take “months and even years” to recover, and NTF-Elcac funds could be used to build housing and infrastructure, he said.

COA audit request

Zárate had written to the chairman of the Audit Commission, Michael Aguinaldo, requesting an audit of the multi-million dollar funds that had been allocated to the anti-insurgency body.

The working group “must be transparent and accountable to Congress and the people for the public funds given to them for their operations,” he said.

“However, it seems that this is not the case. In this situation, Congress has a duty to ensure that public funds are paid for lawful purposes and that the public knows what the government is spending its money on, ”said Zárate.

President Duterte created the task force on December 4, 2018 to “provide an efficient mechanism and structure for the implementation of the nationwide approach to assist in the realization of the collective aspiration of the Filipino people to achieve peace.” – WITH A REPORT FROM NESTOR CORRALES

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