The Senate is set to slash the proposed funding for the controversial National Task Force to End Local Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) by as much as P24 billion in the 2022 proposed spending measure, Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara said on Tuesday.
But while Angara called the 2022 national budget as a “COVID-19 recovery budget,” the government’s proposed P312-billion funding for health is still out-funded by projected spending for infrastructure of P665.5 billion.
Angara on Tuesday sponsored House Bill No. 10153, or the 2022 General Appropriations Bill, which seeks to allot P5.024 trillion for the 2022 national budget.
According to Angara, the reduction in the NTF-Elcac budget was borne out of questions of alleged misuse of its P19.33 billion funding in 2021, including P16.4 billion for the Local Government Support Funds under the Support to Barangay Development Program, and P2.9 billion distributed across agencies for “administrative and operations expenses.”
The proposed reduction comes as senators hinted at the failure of the task force to account for its P19.1-billion funding in 2021.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson had earlier flagged the alleged misuse of NTF-Elcac funds, including its supposed use for the conduct of a questioned survey in the barangays.
The senator backed the slash in the NTF-Elcac budget, after being subjected to alleged online trolling, purportedly carried out by the government agency.
According to Lacson, issues of alleged fund misuse are “far worse” than unused funding.
According to Angara, next year’s budget is hoped to lay down the government’s strategy toward the nation’s recovery from COVID-19, and its return to normalcy.
It seeks to allot P51 billion for the COVID-19 benefit and compensation for health workers, but P40 billions of which is lodged under unprogrammed funds. This means that funding will be dependent on the inflow of revenues that the government will collect next year.
Another P61.6 billion is being allocated for the purchase of COVID-19 booster shots, with P45.3 billion lodged under unprogrammed appropriations, to provide an additional one dose to around 83.4 million Filipinos estimated at P544 per dose.
While Makabayan lawmakers are glad that the Senate finance panel slashed the P28-billion budget of the state’s anticommunist insurgency task force, “bringing it to zero would be better.”
House assistant minority leader and Gabriela Womens Rep. Arlene Brosas also welcomed the Senate finance committee’s move to cut the NTF-Elcac’s budget from P28 to P4 billion. (© Philippine Daily Inquirer News)
