THE NATIONAL Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict a.k.a. NTF-ELCAC are winning the hearts and minds of the people in the countryside, largely why this more than 50 years old communist insurgency has withered away.
Of the 89 active CPP/NPA/NDF fronts, the AFP/NTF-ELCAC successfully dismantled 78, reducing their strength to just 11 weakened fronts, and by this time these 11 severely weakened fronts would be nil.
On top of that, the death of all top CPP/NPA/NDF leaders is the final straw in their demise. They’re now running around like headless chickens. With their ideology no longer able to sustain them, they turned to banditry.
Indeed, they have bragging rights as perhaps the only government anti-insurgency program that actually works and is rather successful.
Admittedly, the country is facing the usual problems i.e. natural calamities like floods made worst by substandard or non-existing flood control projects courtesy of your corrupt politicians, and this perennial insurgency problem which was finally reduced to a minimal level if not eliminated by the teamwork of the AFP and the NTF-ELCAC. This is why in appreciation, and perhaps out of the goodness of his heart — despite the noisy wokes, leftists and “useful idiots” calling for its abolition – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered an increase in the Barangay Development Fund under the NTF-ELCAC from P2.5 million to P7.5 million per barangay.
According to National Security Council Assistant Director-General Jonathan Malaya, a total of P4.32 billion additional budget will benefit 864 barangays that are recipients of NTF-ELCAC’s Barangay Development Program for this year.
“The President was not happy with the original P2.5M per barangay in the 2024 General Appropriations Act so he ordered the Department of Budget and Management to allocate the additional funds for this year. He said that P2.5M will hardly make an impact in terms of development so he ordered the augmentation.”
The Oresident also expressed support increasing the funds to P10 million per barangay in the 2025 budget.
Moving on, the President also approved the creation of the National Action Plan for Unity, Peace and Development under the NTF-ELCAC to pursue a national peace framework.
“Under Unity, the government will advocate for positive peace and for programs to denounce violent extremism. Under peace and security, local government units (LGUs) will take lead in peacebuilding to ensure that the CPP-NPA-NDF will be unable to operate, infiltrate or influence any area of the country.
Under socioeconomic development, the Barangay Development Program will be continued in collaboration with LGUs, resulting into conflict- resilient and empowered communities nationwide.”
Meanwhile, Justice Angelita V. Miranda / Office of the Solicitor General, who chairs the Legal Cooperation Cluster (LCC) of the NTF-ELCAC, stressed that the arrests made in accordance with standing warrants issued by competent courts for heinous crimes such as kidnapping and murder, are beyond the scope of any purported immunity under the now-defunct Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG).
This was in view of the recent arrests and detention of Porferio Tuna, Simeon Naogsan, and Wigberto Villarico lately of the CPP/NPA/NDF who claimed that they were immune form arrest because of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG).
The JASIG, originally designed to facilitate peace talks, has long outlived its relevance. Its termination in 2017 by then-President Rodrigo Duterte was both a legal and necessary response to the New People’s Army’s relentless acts of violence and betrayal of public trust.
Provision III (5) of the JASIG clearly states that the agreement can be terminated by either party through written notice, which President Duterte exercised, effectively nullifying any claim of immunity by alleged NDFP negotiators.
The JASIG’s purpose was to foster dialogue, not to provide sanctuary for individuals committing heinous crimes./PN
