VERA FILES FACT CHECK: Robredo changes tune on NTF-ELCAC’s mandate

After earlier calling the mandate of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) a “duplication of efforts,” Vice President Leni Robredo now says she is “all for [the agency’s] mandate and functions.”

Watch this video:

During a meeting with the Rotary Club of Makati on Nov. 9, Robredo, who is running for president in the 2022 elections, was asked how she would adjust the budget of the anti-communist insurgency task force should she win. The proposed budget for the NTF-ELCAC in 2022 is P28.12 billion, up from this year’s P19.2 billion. In 2020, it had an allocation of P1.7 billion.

That same day, the Senate slashed the agency’s 2022 budget by P24 billion, and reallocated the funds to the government’s coronavirus disease 2019 booster inoculation program, and benefits for health workers.

On Dec. 1, the Senate increased the task force’s allocation to P10.8 billion, of which P10 billion would be given to the task force’s Barangay Development Program (BDP).

In the Nov. 26 statement issued by her office, Robredo lauded the BDP, saying it is the “best part of everything.” The BDP aims to rehabilitate 822 barangays that were “formerly established as the CPP-NPA-NDF’s guerilla fronts.” The NTF-ELCAC received a P16.4-billion budget for the BDP in 2021.

“Paniniwala ko talaga (I really believe) it is through concepts like this that the problems of insurgency can be addressed upfront,” Robredo was quoted as saying in the statement.

Robredo’s media affairs office told VERA Files Fact Check that the vice president, through her spokesperson lawyer Barry Gutierrez, will release an official statement on the issue. This has yet to be released despite follow-up.

Editor’s note: This article was updated to include the video fact check.