NTF-ELCAC Calls Out Kabataan Solon for ‘Betrayal’ of Youth, Communities

October 13, 2025

The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) blasted a Kabataan Partylist solon for calling to defund the Barangay Development Program, branding the move a “betrayal” of both the youth and conflict-weary communities.

In a statement, NTF-ELCAC Executive Director Undersecretary Ernesto C. Torres Jr. said Kabataan’s attacks are misleading and betray the sacrifices of barangays that fought hard to reclaim peace from the Communist Party of the Philippines–New People’s Army–National Democratic Front (CPP–NPA–NDF).

Torres stressed that the BDP is neither a duplication of agency functions nor a “pork barrel” for the military, but the material expression of people’s collective demands. Every project undergoes validation, auditing, and concurrence by the DILG, DBM, and implementing LGUs.

“The BDP is not the problem—it is the antidote to corruption. It channels resources directly into the lifeblood of former conflict-affected areas, addressing decades of neglect that bred insurgency,” Torres said.

He added that the lawmaker’s attacks only echo the deceptive agenda of the CPP-NPA-NDF, which has long exploited students and opposed genuine rural development.

Kabataan has claimed that development through the BDP means “surrender of rights under militarization.” NTF-ELCAC dismissed this as rhetoric detached from reality and insulting to communities that have broken free from the CPP-NPA-NDF’s grip. Torres countered: “For these barangays, peace is not submission—it is liberation. The roads, classrooms, health stations, and water systems built under the BDP are not tools of repression; they are symbols of dignity restored.”

The Task Force also hit back at Kabataan for exploiting the idealism of students and grooming them for rebellion. “The true bogus development is the deception that convinces young people to take up arms instead of books, to see their own nation as the enemy. The senseless deaths of former Kabataan members who perished in armed encounters across the country are tragic reminders of where this deception leads,” Torres declared.

He also called it disingenuous to pit education against rural development, noting that the BDP funds the construction of schools in remote areas once cut off from government services. “A nation cannot prosper when its urban students are educated but its rural youth remain trapped in conflict zones without basic services,” he said.

According to NTF-ELCAC, Kabataan and its allies in the legal national democratic movement are bent on dismantling the BDP because it dismantles the very lifeline of their insurgency. By empowering barangays with governance, services, and infrastructure, the government cuts off the environment of exploitation that insurgents once thrived on.

Torres urged the youth to reject divisive slogans and embrace genuine activism that contributes to nation-building. “True activism is about constructive engagement, not deception that sacrifices lives. Stand with your communities, not with those who exploit them,” he said.

NTF-ELCAC reaffirmed its commitment to defend and expand the BDP, hailing it as one of the most successful peace and development initiatives in the nation’s history.