NSC HOPES 2025 BUDGET FOR VILLAGES WILL NOT BE CUT

BAGUIO CITY

An official of the National Security Council (NSC) is hoping that the agency’s proposed budget for 2025 will not be slashed, citing its effects to peace and development projects nationwide. In his message during the Bagong Pilipinas National Security Roadshow at the Baguio Convention Center here on Wednesday, National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) Executive Director Ernesto Torres Jr. said there are 780 proposed projects for the Barangay Development Projects (BDP) for 2025.

BDPs are identified by the communities as their priority needs and these include farm-to-market roads, school
buildings, water supply and sanitation, health stations, rural electrification and livelihood projects. Torres said the projects are intended to help villages that have residents who have decided to shun away from the influence of the communist terrorist groups (CTGs). “We are optimistic that it will not be slashed and that the PHP10 million per barangay will be in the General Appropriations Act (GAA),” he said.

In a press conference at the sidelines of the roadshow, Torres said the budget allocation will help ensure “sustained development in areas formerly identified as CTG-infested areas.” The budget for this year was reduced from the proposed PHP10 million per village to PHP2.5 million. There are 864 villages included in this year’s program. Last year, there were 958 village beneficiaries, while it is 1,406 in 2022 and 822 in 2021. “These projects are allotted because we want the residents to feel how it is when they sustain peace and order in their community,” NSC Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya said during the same briefing.

(Liza Agoot/PNA)

Amianan Balita Ngayon