Parlade: P20-M 'reward' for over 800 NPA-free barangays not cash, election fund

The Duterte administration anti-insurgency task force said Saturday that the P20 million "reward" for more than 800 barangays which have been cleared of New People’s Army presence is not an election fund, nor will it be given in cash.

“Hindi po ito cash. Hindi military ang mag-i-implement. Ang release nito is provincial level. Ang mag-i-implement na ay provincial government,” National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) spokesperson Lieutenant General Antonio Parlade Jr. said in an interview on Dobol B TV.

He also said that the reward is not an election fund.

“Overall, 822 barangays sa buong Pilipinas. Ito ay para sa mga barangay na wala na ang influence ng NPA. Clear na sila so puwede na nila ipagpatuloy ang kanilang normal na pamumuhay,” Parlade said.

Late Friday, President Rodrigo Duterte started the distribution of P20 million worth of projects in Cagayan de Oro City.

“‘Yung mga issues nila tulad ng mga patubig, farm-to-market roads ito ‘yung ina-address nitong P20 million each barangay,” Parlade said.

“Initially 822 ang nakayanan ng budget pero 1,600 barangays ang ni-request ng NTF-ELCAC na mapondohan. Kalahati lang muna... Karamihan sa mga barangay ay napag-iwanan at nasa liblib na lugar,” he said.

National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon on Friday said aside from farm-to-market roads, the P20 million may be used for classrooms, electricity, health station, water system, and irrigation.

The NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, has been consistently tagged by Duterte as a terrorist organization.

The government’s petition to declare the communists as terrorists is still pending before the Manila Regional Trial Court.

The NTF-ELCAC’s mandate is to fight communism through “prioritizing and harmonizing the delivery of basic services and social development packages by the government”.

The NTF-ELCAC’s over P19 billion budget under the 2021 national budget dwarfs the national budget’s allocation for buying COVID-19 vaccines at P2.5 billion.

Critics have vowed to seek an audit of the multi-billion anti-insurgency fund. —KG, GMA News