Mindanao villages get bulk of $33m fund
MANILA: A total of 215 “barangay” (villages) in the Davao Region, including Davao City, the hometown of President Rodrigo Duterte in Mindanao, received the bulk of the government’s $33 million anti-insurgency fund due to the success of officials in ridding their areas off communist rebels, a top government official disclosed.
Hermogenes Esperon, the national security adviser, said the funds are to be used for the development projects of the villages which have been declared free of influence from the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed component the New People’s Army ( CPP-NPA).
“The former NPA communities are now ripe for developmental projects through the Barangay Development Programme (BDP),” said Esperon, a retired military general, on the $33 million budget allocated to the controversial National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (Ntf-elcac).
Esperon issued the statement in response to questions from lawmakers why the bulk of funds went to the Davao Region as well as Davao City.
The lawmakers insisted that instead of “favouring” these areas, the government should give “equal treatment” to other villages also declared free of communist influence in regions in the Bicol Region in Luzon as well as those located in Eastern and Western Visayas.
“The Davao Region,” Esperon explained, “will be receiving projects and funding for school buildings, among other other projects, in order to provide places for training which will replace the closed NPA learning and recruitment institutions.”
In addition, the funds are likewise earmarked for similar projects like farm-to-market roads, livelihood, irrigation and health stations, according to Esperon
Esperon noted that nationwide, the Ntf-elcac has declared a total of 822 barangays freed from Red influence which are entitled to a development fund of $40,000 each. Of the total, 215 villages are located in the Davao Region and Davao City, he added.
Also benefiting from the fund, he said, was Panabo City in Davao del Norte province which ranked second to Davao City with 40 of its villages cleared of communist influence.