• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Mayors in northern Negros Occidental have asked the help of Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro for the restoration of the P20-million budget for every insurgency-free village under the Barangay Development Program (BDP) of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
For 2023, the budget has been slashed by almost about 80 percent.
Cadiz City Mayor Salvador Escalante Jr. said yesterday that he, together with Escalante City Mayor Melecio Yap Jr., Manapla Mayor Manuel Escalante Jr., and Don Salvador Benedicto Mayor Marxlen de la Cruz, aired their concerns to Teodoro when they met at the Negros Trade Fair event in Makati City last week.
In Negros Occidental, Escalante City has the most number of insurgency cleared barangays at 14, each of them identified to receive P20 million worth of infrastructure projects through the Local Government Support Fund-Support to Barangay Development Program (LGSF-SBDP).
Escalante said the LGSF-SBDP fund was reduced from its original budget of P20 million to only P4 million in 2022, but was increased to P6 million this year.
The reduction of budget ranges from 75 to 80 percent, he added.
He said they were assured by Teodoro that he will push for the reinstatement of P20 million to each insurgency-free barangay.
Cadiz City has four villages declared as insurgency-free.
The BDP is a hallmark program of the NTF-ELCAC with the end goal of bringing development to former conflict-prone communities.
Under the program, each insurgency cleared barangay is allocated P20 million for the construction of farm to market roads, classrooms, water and sanitation systems, health stations and the implementation of livelihood projects. | GB
