The money allotted under the Barangay Development Program (BDP) spearheaded by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ElCAC) has already been disbursed to barangay beneficiaries across the country.
NTF-ELCAC vice chairman and National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said at a news briefing on Monday that P16.44 billion BDP funds have been downloaded to 822 barangays around the country directly through barangay chairmen.
“We wish to inform the public that as of May 4, 2021, P10.68 billion of the BDP has been released to 712 out of 822 barangay-recipients identified for the program. 110 are in the process of endorsing their projects to the DBM [Department of Budget and Management],” Esperon said.
The BDP is intended to help barangays which have been cleared of the influence of the Communist Party of the Philippine-New People’s Army to recover through the construction and implementation of barangay-based development projects.
Esperon said that from the year 2016 up to 2019, the government has cleared 822 “former rebel communities” by dismantling the rebels’ guerilla fronts that once wield considerable influence over them.
“These communities are now in the process of transforming their formerly conflict-vulnerable barangays into areas of peace and empowerment,” he said.
In providing the latest development on the disbursement of the BDP money, the NTF-ELCAC vice chairman said they understood the public’s sentiment over the utilization of the funds.
Esperon defended the BDP, saying it was crafted to address the root causes of insurgency such as the lack of education infrastructure, inaccessibility to health services, lack or absence of connectivity and lack of economic opportunities for livelihood.
During the news briefing, the national security adviser also announced the formation of additional clusters under the task force into groups headed by officials from various agencies of the government.
It also created a media affairs office headed Presidential Communications Operations Office Undersecretary Joel Sy Egco.
Esperon also announced the designation of six additional spokesmen “with their respective areas of primary coverage” for the NTF-ELCAC, even as the task force retained both Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. and Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy.
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