The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) today thanked Senate Finance Committee Chairperson Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, and other lawmakers for expressing support to reinstate the P28.1-billion Barangay Development Program (BDP) for NPA-cleared barangays proposed by the National Task Force to End Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) in the 2022 budget.
“As we enter the 2021 Bicameral Conference Committee deliberations, we thank Senator Angara and Senator Dela Rosa for seeing the value of the program which will bring lasting peace and development to communities that have been left behind economically due to communist presence in their areas,” said DILG Secretary Eduardo M. Año.
The Secretary said he is pleased that many senators had a change of heart and are now backing the BDP after being convinced that the projects are real and concrete projects that will address the basic needs of the target barangays such as water and sanitation, housing, school buildings, and electrification.
“Umaasa kami na dahil sa suporta ng mga Senators sa pangunguna ni Senator Angara at Senator Dela Rosa, wala ng magiging hadlang pa para sa pag-aapruba ng budget ng BDP alang-alang sa mga barangay na sabik na sa tunay na kapayapaan at kaginhawaan. Maraming Salamat sa inyo!” he said.
He said that he is hopeful that the P28.1-billion BDP budget will now breeze through the deliberations in the bicameral conference committee up until the enactment of the General Appropriations Act. This program will benefit 1,406 barangays in 324 municipalities, 29 cities, and 58 provinces in 15 regions nationwide.
“I have always believed in the wisdom and good judgment of our Honorable Senators and that they will eventually appreciate that BDP is the game changer in our long battle to end communist terrorism in the country. Sa pamamagitan ng BDP, maipapadama natin sa mga residente ng barangay na sakop ng BDP na hindi sila pababayaan ng pamahalaan,” he said.
He said the local government units and the Filipino people will surely be indebted to the Senators for backing BDP which is a critical step in the long process to end communist insurgency in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas (GIDA).
The DILG and the League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) earlier appealed to the Senate to restore the P28.1-billion BDP budget after the Senate finance committee slashed it by P24-billion to divert to COVID-19 efforts.
According to Angara, many lawmakers began supporting the plan to reinstate the original P28.1-billion budget for BDP after they received the report on the status of implementation of the 2021 BDP projects.
Año said that the P28.1-billion BDP will be the best Christmas gift to the rural folks, youth, farmers, and indigenous cultural communities in 1,406 barangays who have long been manipulated by communist terrorist groups.
“At these trying times of COVID-19 pandemic when life in the GIDA areas are doubly hard, the approval of BDP fund could be the best Christmas gift that our country could give to them in the form of government projects and services,” he said.
Original Article at: https://dilg.gov.ph/news/DILG-thanks-Angara-Dela-Rosa-for-supporting-increaseof-Barangay-Development-Budget/NC-2021-1218