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NTC-ELCAC budget slash questioned: Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, a former chief of the Philippine National Police, questions the 86 percent proposed budget cut of the National Task Force to End Local Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) for 2022. According to Dela Rosa, the P24 billion budget cut from P28 billion in 2021 to a mere P4 billion next year would adversely affect NTF-Elcac barangay development programs. “These projects and programs are game-changers for our problems in insurgency. The root causes of insurgency are poverty and social injustice brought about by decades of government neglect. If these are not addressed, then we will not find a solution to our insurgency problem. This NTF-Elcac is the solution. It would address the social inequality and social injustice that is happening in far-flung barangays and being exploited by the insurgents,” Dela Rosa said during the continuation of the hybrid budget deliberation Thursday, November 11, 2021. Sen. Sonny Angara, chairperson of the Committee on Finance and sponsor of House Bill No. 10153, the 2022 General Appropriations Bill, said senators decided to slash the NTF-Elcac funding after agencies failed to submit reports on how the funds were spent on projects. Angara said funds were also needed for the COVID-19 recovery program due to the threat of a collapse in the country’s health care system. NTF-Elcac is a task force organized by the government to respond and raise awareness to the ongoing communist insurgency. (Screen grab/Senate PRIB)