Baguio City — A total of eight communist terrorist groups (CTG)-cleared barangays in the Cordillera Region will receive this year ₱ 20 million each under the Support to Barangay Development Program (BDP) of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
Dir. Araceli San Jose, OIC-Regional Director of the Department of the Interior and Local Government-Cordillera said that the funds can be used by the recipient villages for farm-to-market roads, school buildings, water and sanitation systems, rural electrification, housing, and medical, burial, transportation, food, cash-for-work, and educational assistance to indigent individuals or households depending on the identified priority needs and proposed projects of the barangays.
Of the eight villages in the Cordillera, 6 are from the Province of Abra namely: Barangays of Bayabas, Buanao, Dulao, Duldulao, Ud-udiao in Malibcong, and Barangay Naguilian in Salapadan.
Barangay Babalag East in Kalinga, and Barangay Tamboan, Besao in Mountain Province are also beneficiaries of the BDP.
OIC-RD San Jose explained that the SBDP is the Duterte administration’s flagship program for poverty alleviation and development in the context of addressing the root causes of insurgency under the NTF-ELCAC.
She also stated that the program’s goal was to reduce CTG recruitment through holistic development projects that bridge the gap between community needs and accessibility.
It can be recalled that Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado previously issued Local Budget Circular No. 135, which will serve as the guidelines for the release of NTF-ELCAC’s Local Government Support Fund-Support to the Barangay Development Program (LGSF-SBDP).
(Joseph Manzano, RPN DZBS Baguio OIC | Pamela Mariz Geminiano | DILG-CAR, photo courtesy of Abra PMFC)
