NTF-ELCAC’s barangay funds lowest since 2021

MANILA, Philippines—This fiscal year, the funds for the socio-economic program of the controversial National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) are at their lowest level since 2021. 

The Barangay Development Program, known as the “BDP” is the “flagship” program of the agency, according to its website. 

In the 2025 General Appropriations Act, the NTF-ELCAC's "Support to the Barangay Development Program'" was allocated 1.95 billion pesos, marking the lowest amount since the fund's inception in the national budget.

The budget for the agency's socio-economic program was drastically reduced from the proposed three-fold increase of P7.8 billion.

This represents a drastic reduction of P5.85 billion from the proposed budget and falls short of even the P2.1 billion allocated in 2024. 

Philstar.com reached out to the NTF-ELCAC for comment on the effects of the reduced appropriations, but has yet to receive a response.

However, according to the agency’s website, the BDP is used for essential services like infrastructure, healthcare and livelihood opportunities for barangays “cleared of communist influence.”

Waning budget

The agency's barangay program first appeared in the 2021 appropriations with an allocation of P16.4 billion, which was also proposed in the 2021 National Expenditure Program. However, this was reduced by over P10 billion for the following year's budget, dropping to P5.6 billion.

In 2023, the allocation increased to P6.3 billion, only to be slashed again the following year.

Philstar.com also sought comment from NTF-ELCAC about the matter, but they have yet to respond. 

Calls for abolition, defunding

Since its creation in 2018, human rights groups and organizations have called for the abolition and the defunding of NTF-ELCAC due to its red-tagging of individuals, particularly activists and journalists. 

The agency was created in 2018, a year after former President Rodrigo Duterte formally ended the peace talks between the government and the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA).

By funding NTF-ELCAC, the government funds the harassment and attacks against activists, according to Amnesty International Philippines Section Director Butch Olano.

“President Marcos Jr maintains his support in perpetuating dangerous narratives against social, developmental workers, and human rights defenders. Their budget was significantly slashed after the Duterte administration, allocating and maintaining a significant budget is inappropriate,” Olano said in a July 2024 statement.

According to Olano, the agency’s fund is being used for organizing "talks" about communism in schools and "seminars" in barangays where they publicly identify student and local organizations as "terrorists" or "communists."

“De-legitimizing the work that activists, journalists, lawyers, trade unionists, and other human rights defenders do, is an act of red-tagging. When any and all criticisms against the government are deemed ill-intentioned and an attack against the state, people are driven to suffering in silence,” he said. 

It can be recalled that on Dec. 14, 2024, a Quezon City Regional Trial Court found former NTF-ELCAC spokesperson Lorraine Badoy and Jeffrey Celiz guilty of defamation over its red-tagging of journalist Atom Araullo and his mother.

The case stemmed from accusations aired by the agency’s former spokespersons through Sonshine Media Network International, where Araullo and his mother were red-tagged as members of the CPP and linked to the NPA and the National Democratic Front.

This article will be updated once the NTF-ELCAC responded.