NTF-ELCAC Hits Back at ‘Reward’ Claim on ₱8.08-B Barangay Funds

December 18, 2025

The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) on Thursday firmly rejected claims that the proposed ₱8.08-billion allocation related to ending local communist armed conflict constitutes a discretionary “NTF-ELCAC fund,” saying such portrayals are inaccurate and misleading.

In a statement, NTF-ELCAC Executive Director Undersecretary Ernesto C. Torres Jr. clarified that the amount being cited refers to the Barangay Development Program (BDP)—a multi-agency development intervention implemented by regular line agencies of government, not by the task force itself.

“The ₱8.08 billion is not an NTF-ELCAC fund in the way it is being portrayed. It is not a discretionary pool, not a patronage fund, and not an ‘ayuda’ dispensed in exchange for compliance or silence,” Torres said.

Torres said the task force welcomes the scrutiny raised by Caritas Philippines and the Episcopal Commission on Social Action, Justice and Peace (ECSA-JP), stressing that public questioning of government programs is part of democratic life. However, he underscored the need for accuracy and context in discussing the nature and purpose of the funds.

He explained that the BDP is implemented by agencies such as the Department of Public Works and Highways, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Health, and the Department of Education, among others. NTF-ELCAC’s role, he said, is coordinative and integrative—not operational—and does not involve handling or disbursing funds.

“To conflate BDP allocations with an ‘NTF-ELCAC budget’ is to misunderstand both the structure of government and the nature of the program,” Torres said.

Torres also rejected claims that BDP funds serve as a “reward for peace,” emphasizing that the program exists to correct decades of state neglect in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas. He said these communities were left for years without basic roads, schools, clinics, water systems, electricity, or livelihood support, creating conditions that allowed the CPP-NPA-NDF and the armed insurgency to entrench themselves.

“The BDP is not a prize handed out after compliance. It is a corrective intervention—belated state action to address historical exclusion and governance failure. Hindi ito gantimpala, kundi habol na pananagutan ng estado,” Torres said.

He stressed that BDP projects are bottom-up and community-driven, with barangays identifying their needs, local development councils endorsing them, and local government units validating and implementing the projects. These, he said, are requested projects—not patronage instruments—and framing them otherwise erases the agency of communities and the democratic process that empowered them.

Torres clarified that BDP projects are not cash handouts but consist of basic, long-overdue infrastructure and social services such as farm-to-market roads, water systems, health stations, schools, and electrification. These, he said, are preconditions for dignity, access, and participation, and denying GIDAs these services risks perpetuating the very injustices all sectors condemn.

On human rights, Torres reiterated that violations are not policy, not program, and not acceptable, and that allegations must be investigated through existing accountability mechanisms. At the same time, he called for a more comprehensive and honest human rights discussion that also confronts abuses committed by the CPP-NPA, particularly terror-grooming and so-called “spy-tagging,” which have led to intimidation and the summary execution of civilians.

“Any credible human rights framework must condemn abuses consistently and without selective outrage,” Torres said.

Torres cautioned against narratives that deliberately blur development with militarization, warning that labeling all development efforts in former conflict areas as coercive ultimately benefits those who thrive on perpetual underdevelopment and conflict.

He encouraged Caritas Philippines and ECSA-JP to broaden engagement by also consulting line agencies and local communities that request and implement BDP projects, saying evidence-based dialogue strengthens democracy while mischaracterization weakens it.

Reiterating NTF-ELCAC’s commitment to a peace that is just, inclusive, and lasting, Torres emphasized that the ₱8.08-billion allocation is not a weapon, not a reward, and not a slush fund, but a composite of programs meant to finally bring the state to places it abandoned for far too long.

“We welcome continued engagement so that truth—not disinformation—guides our shared pursuit of building better peace grounded in justice,” Torres said.