Rights group scores bicam panel over NTF-ELCAC's P17.1-B budget for 2022 

MANILA, Philippines —  A rights group on Friday decried a panel of lawmakers from both chambers of Congress for allocating a 2022 budget of P17.1 billion to the government's controversial anti-communist task force. 

In a statement, Karapatan said the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict has become a "breeding ground for corruption and human rights violations," further reiterating its call for the abolition of the inter-agency body. 

"After State auditors flagged several government agencies in their use of funds from the NTF-ELCAC, it is condemnable that the bicam conference committee allotted [P]17.1 billion pesos to this task force," Karapatan secretary-general Cristina Palabay is quoted as saying in the statement. 

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Palabay further alleged that the task force "has basically used and wasted billions of taxpayers’ money to incentivize if not reward brutal human rights violations — from red-tagging to illegal arrests and extrajudicial killings — in the Duterte administration’s counterinsurgency campaigns." 

She also called out Manila City Mayor Isko Moreno, a candidate for the presidency, who told reporters in Iloilo City on Thursday that he does not support defunding the task force. "I will use that money to create jobs instead of intelligence," he is quoted by ABS-CBN News as saying. 

RELATED: Robredo backs NTF-ELCAC but says it shouldn't harass, red-tag

Most of the task force's budget is allocated to its Barangay Development Program. 

But Palabay said that “far from creating jobs or fostering ‘development’ in communities, the ‘clearing’ operations as prerequisites for barangays to be qualified to receive [P20 million] from the [program] basically enables and rewards the killings, arrests, and harassment."

She added that the program also enables "the fake and forced surrenders of activists, human rights defenders, and other community leaders red-tagged as ‘communists’ or ‘terrorists.'"

'General's pork'

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon has flagged the same program on many occasions, noting that the freehand given to the task force to disperse the funds to "cleared" barangays could make it a multi-billion peso "election war chest."

This was echoed by Palabay who called the funds for the program "essentially the general’s pork."

"[W]ith the 2022 national elections drawing near, it should be a cause for alarm and concern that the NTF-ELCAC is set to get billions which could be used to curry favors and influence next year," she said.

"Funneling more money and resources to the NTF-ELCAC only creates a breeding ground for corruption while funding State repression, violence, and the ‘whole-of-nation’ militarization of the civilian bureaucracy." 

The NTF-ELCAC in a statement released Thursday described the 40% slash to its proposed budget as a supposed victory for communist terrorists as well as an attack on the impoverished and vulnerable sectors of society. 

Senate unable to defund task force 

The Senate voted to slash NTF-ELCAC's proposed budget by 86%, down to just P4 billion from the proposed P28 billion, in its own version of the General Appropriations Bill.

A number of senators were making good on their threat to defund the task force after it red-tagged celebrities and community pantry organizers last year. 

Allies of President Rodrigo Duterte in the chamber, namely Sens. Christopher Go and Ronald dela Rosa, opposed the move but were overruled by their colleagues, many of whom have distanced themselves from the chief executive as the elections approach. 

But the House of Representatives remains dominated by the president's allies.

The consensus in the bicameral conference committee tasked with reconciling disagreeing provisions of the House and Senate versions of the 2022 budget was to give the red-tagging task force some P17 billion, retaining more than half of its proposed budget. 

The proposed appropriations bill has since been ratified by both chambers of Congress and will soon be transmitted to Malacañang for Duterte's signature. —  Bella Perez-Rubio