Realign portion of NTF-ELCAC’s P16 B to help typhoon victims — Hontiveros
Senator Risa Hontiveros said on Tuesday the government should realign a portion of the P16-billion anti-insurgency fund to relief and rehabilitation efforts for communities ravaged by super typhoon “Rolly.” Sen. Risa Hontiveros (Senate of the Philippines / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN) Instead of funding a controversial program under the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), Hontiveros said the budget could go a long way in helping Filipinos recover from the calamity.“Ngayong panahon ng sakuna, ‘di hamak na mas kailangan ng mga kababayan natin sa Bicolandia at sa iba pang mga lugar na nasalanta ng bagyo ang milyon-milyong pondo ng pamahalaan. (During this time of calamity, our people in the Bicol region and other provinces badly-hit by the typhoon need government funds),” Hontiveros said.“It is clear that the billions earmarked for NTF-ELCAC would be better spent on helping Filipinos battered by the typhoon get back on their feet,” the senator stressed.“Unahin nating bigyang-tulong at pondo ang mga nabiktima ng kalamidad, hindi ang mga ahensiya na puro pagre-redtag at pagkakalat ng fake news ang ginagawa. (Let’s prioritize helping victims of calamities by giving them funds, not agencies that do nothing but red tag people and just go about spreading fake news),” she reiterated.At the hearing of the Senate Committee on National Defense, the lawmaker noted that NTF-ELCAC has been allocated a proposed budget of P19-billion for 2021. Of this amount, P16-billion has been earmarked for its Barangay Development Program. Hontiveros also pointed out that the budget for NTF-ELCAC is “questionably astronomic” compared to the proposed budgets of other key agencies particularly the Department of Housing Settlements and Urban Development which only has P632-million, Office of the Ombudsman with only P3.36-billion, Department of Budget & Management (DBM) with only P1.9-billion, and even the Department of Finance (DOF) which only has P17.46-billion.“We should not spend such an inordinate amount of time and money on an agency running after ordinary citizens using the communist bogeyman. This is on top of the NTF-ELCAC’s bad track record of spreading fake news and silencing critical and dissenting voices,” she said. Hontiveros earlier defended entertainment personalities and women’s rights groups from the red tagging activities of Lt. General Antonio Parlade, chief of the Southern Luzon Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and NTF-ELCAC spokesperson. She said she cannot begin “to imagine the anguish and emotional toll this must have taken on these women who have been directly-hit by these accusations, as well as their families.”“I am certain that it has also caused a chilling effect on citizens who only want to weigh in on issues of national importance and hold the government to account for its failures to the people,” she stressed. “The issues of the communist insurgency are not new to me. My party Akbayan historically has called for human rights accountability of non-state actors, at kasama dito ang NPA. I will not hesitate to speak against the violations of the NPA,” she further said. .....»»