SONA 2020 Promise Tracker: Peace Agenda

PROMISE: Implement the Barangay Development Program

“We are pursuing a whole-of-nation approach to bring peace and order and development in the countryside. We need to provide interventions and implement the Barangay Development Program. […] every agency of the government including the Armed Forces of the Philippines should participate. […] We have made significant strides in the past four years, but we need the support of local government leaders. We need your help to implement the Barangay Development Program.” (SONA 2020)

Financial statements of 2,281 projects have been approved under BDP as of July 22, according to the program’s Project Monitoring System. A total of 1,798 projects, or 78.83% involve infrastructure development such as road construction and improvement.

The government allotted P20 million to each of the 822 barangays identified as “cleared” from insurgency from 2016 to 2019, based on the Department of Budget and Management’s (DBM) Local Budget Circular No. 135 released last January.

Six months later, P16.24 billion of the P16.44 billion fund was released to the local government units, according to a report from National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. and Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año.

This accounts for 99% of the total project funding for rehabilitation and development projects such as infrastructure construction, health stations, housing, COVID-19 immunization program, and agricultural development, among others.

However, in its 2020 report, the Commission on Audit (COA) flagged the Philippine National Police (PNP) for having hundreds of millions of anti-insurgency funds unspent as a member of the NTF-ELCAC.

PNP’s Regional Office in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (PRO BAR) spent nothing of the P40 million allocated fund as part of the anti-insurgency task force.

COA stated that PRO BAR’s funds were “not obligated” due to non-preparation of activities or expenses in line with the project, as well as time constraint and late release of funds.

Lawmakers have since called on the NTF-ELCAC to account for the unspent 2020 funds. PNP Chief Guillermo Eleazar said the police force has until December to spend the money, quoting the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) in claiming that the fund is deemed as a “continuing appropriation.”

PROMISE: Fast-track establishment of a regional government in Bangsamoro

“It is my hope that the Bangsamoro Transition will fast-track the establishment of regional government that will secure a comfortable life for Muslim brothers and sisters, and all indigenous communities in the Bangsamoro Regions.” (SONA 2019)

To generate funds for the implementation of the Bangsamoro Organic Law, the government is in talks with the Intergovernmental Relations Body (IGRB) and the Special Intergovernmental Fiscal Policy Board (IFPB) to speed up the purchase of properties in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The proceeds of these properties, which are outside the jurisdiction of Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), are geared toward funding the Bangsamoro Government’s projects.

However, with less than a year to complete its shift to the Bangsamoro Parliament, the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) is furthering calls to extend the transition period up until 2025.

This, despite Duterte taking a “neutral” stance on granting an extension to the interim parliament, according to Palace Spokesperson Harry Roque in a June 28 press briefing.

The Bangsamoro Organic Law, a “milestone” signed into law in July 2018, provided a three-year transition period for the Bangsamoro Parliament. This was slated only up until 2022, the same year when Duterte will step down from office.

Prior to his neutrality, the president supported BTA’s plea for an extension, according to Galvez in November 2020.

Galvez said that the three years given to the interim parliament is not realistic and, for this reason, the president “agrees to the possible extension.”

PROMISE: Resume peace talks with the CPP-NPA-NDF

“Kayong mga Left, I will not talk to you. Why should I?” (SONA 2017)

“To immediately stop violence on the ground, restore peace in the communities and provide an enabling environment conducive to the resumption of the peace talks. I am now announcing a unilateral ceasefire with the CPP/NPA/NDF effective immediately, and call on our Filipinos in the National Democratic Front and its forces to respond accordingly.” (SONA, 2016)

There will be no resumption of peace talks in the near future. Duterte declared so during his weekly Talk to the People on Dec. 8, 2020.

“So for all intents and purposes, I would say the ceasefire is dead and there is no… the peace talks between the NDF, NPA pati ‘yung — isali na lang natin ‘yung legal fronts nila, NPA, NDF pati kayong lahat,” Duterte said then.

Calls to resume the peace talks were also rejected by Galvez following a bomb attack in Barangay Anas, Masbate on June 6.

The CPP-NPA claimed “full responsibility” for the blast, which resulted in the death of a union leader and a local athlete who were found with gunshot wounds, and injured a minor.

In a June 11 statement, Galvez referred to the whole-of-nation approach as the government’s solution in ending local armed conflict.