SUSTAINING PROGRES: HOW THE BDP SUSTAINS THE PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT GAINS DESPITE BUDGET CHALLENGES

The Barangay Development Program is a flagship initiative of NTF ELCAC that started way back in 2021. The program was conceptualized and implemented to provide the much-needed infrastructure developments to the geographically isolated and conflict vulnerable areas. This in effect addresses the concerns of the people, that is
usually used as propaganda by the CPP-NPA-NDF to arouse, organize and mobilize them to join their terrorist group.

This flagship initiative, together with other programs like the Amnesty Program and Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP) among others, have strategically defeated the NPA and reduced its active Guerilla Fronts from 89 way back in 2019 to Zero in CY 2024. This is indeed a vital component in accomplishing the mandate of NTF ELCAC. For 2025, NTF ELCAC have again recommended P10 million pesos each for the 780 barangay beneficiaries in the National Expenditure Program Proposal for the BDP.

Included in the submitted proposal is the itemized list of projects which was identified and requested by the beneficiary barangays themselves. The requested projects for each barangay usually range from 2 to 3 among the identified project menu of the BDP, namely: farm to market road, school building, health station, electrification, and water system. With the reduction of BDP budget from P10 million to P2.5 million per barangay, NTF ELCAC will be obligated to return the proposal to every barangay beneficiary and request them to modify their requested projects to conform with the approved budget.

This will entail delay in the implementation of the project, over and above to the fact that, it will bring disappointment to the beneficiary barangays, thereby giving an opportunity for the CPP-NPA-NDF to exploit this to their advantage. With this challenge, NTF ELCAC will not rest, but instead, will do everything within its mandate to look for additional funds to augment the approved budget.

Just like last year, the NTF ELCAC Secretariat presented the reduced budget of the BDP CY 2024 from the recommended P10 million to 2.5 million during the 4th Executive Committee meeting last April 2024, and President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr, upon recognizing the insufficiency of P2.5 million pesos per barangay, immediately directed the Department of Budget and Management to look for ways and means to augment the approved BDP budget.

True enough, in compliance with the directive of the president, the DBM was able to source from the unprogrammed
funds an additional P5 million increasing the allocation to P7.5 million pesos per beneficiary barangay. With this, the NTF ELCAC was still able to provide for the much-needed infrastructure developments to the 864 geographically-isolated and conflict vulnerable barangays under BDP 2024, thereby off setting the propaganda of the CPP-NPA-NDF.

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