Dela Rosa urges critics: Go with me to see dev't in mountain brgys due to NTF-ELCAC

SENATOR Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa has urged fellow lawmakers and politicians to go with him to the mountains to see for themselves the gratitude of the residents for the Barangay Development Program (BDP) projects of the government under the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).

Dela Rosa's suggestion came as he defended anew the NTF-ELCAC against senators and other government officials who are unsatisfied with its performance, resulting to the current P24-billion cut in the proposed funding of the agency for next year.

"Hindi naman gano'n kabilis 'yan gumawa ng project at kung gusto nila talaga ng concrete, verifiable na accomplishment ng [NTF-] ELCAC, samahan nila ako. Punta tayo doon sa kabundukan kung saan nando'n 'yung mga Barangay Development Projects para ma-appreciate nila," Dela Rosa said in an interview with DZMM on Monday morning.

"Ako, sasabihin ko sa'yo, every Senate break, sumasama po ako sa mga pulis at sundalo doon na nagmo-motor paakyat sa kabundukan na hindi na naa-access ng gobyerno at nakikita ko 'yung programa ng NTF-ELCAC. Magtanong nalang kayo doon sa mga cleared barangays kung anong masasabi nila, kung gusto niyo ng concrete accomplishment," the senator said further.

?Dela Rosa has already manifested his intention to push for an institutional amendment to the 2022 budget bill to increase the funding of the NTF-ELCAC, which Senator Sonny Angara, sponsor of the bill in the Senate as the chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, accepted.

Dela Rosa, a former chief of the national police, admitted to having frustrations when he was fighting the New People's Army (NPA) as a solider and police officer, because it seemed that other government agencies had abandoned them in the bloody fight against communist rebels.

"Ito kasing mga kasamahan ko ay, pasensya na po, nandito lang sa Metro Manila, hindi sila umaakyat doon sa bundok. 'Yung aking na-experience, hindi nila na- experience, 'yung akyatan sa bundok, nakipag-giyera sa NPA. Kaya hindi nila alam kung gaano kabigat ang problema sa insurgency doon sa kabundukan... Puntahan natin 'yung mga projects doon sa kabarangayan para makita nila, may mga patubig, may mga pa-ilaw, may mga pakalsada, may mga pangkalusugan," Dela Rosa said.

The Mindanaoan Senator, in another interview with DZBB on Sunday, urged all government officials at present to support the whole-of-nation approach of fighting the decades-old problem of insurgency in the country.

"Ngayong nandito na tayo sa taas ng hierarchy ng ating gobyerno, ayusin natin 'yung mali no'ng tayo'y bata pa sa serbisyo. Ayusin natin ito, gawan natin ng kaukulang aksyon," Dela Rosa said.

"Lumabas 'yung NTF-ELCAC wherein whole-of-government approach. Hindi ko masabi na whole-of-government, kundi whole-of-nation approach ito dahil hindi lang gobyerno ang involved dito kundi taumbayan mismo. 'Yung community mismo na gusto nang matapos ang problema ng NPA, nakikipagtulungan sa gobyerno kaya whole-of-nation na itong ginagawa sa NTF-ELCAC," Dela Rosa added.