EDITORIAL - Expect more of the same

Despite its dismal performance and notorious reputation, lawmakers restored the P10-billion proposed 2023 budget of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).

It should have gotten nil.

We have said this before; the NTF-ELCAC is already redundant. Its functions are already being performed --and better-- by other government agencies. The only thing it does that other agencies don’t is call out people for alleged and usually unproven ties to the rebel movement, leading them to be publicly persecuted and ostracized.

It’s not just the activists. Ordinary people who are doing their jobs like lawyers, judges, and even government officials have been red-tagged by this agency for no other reason than offering a view it does not agree with.

Its other “accomplishments”? According to lawmakers it was only able to accomplish or start a measly 2% of its projects even with last year’s P17.1 billion budget.

Still, with that budget in NTF-ELCAC’s hands --albeit reduced because of their poor performance-- we can expect more of the same red-tagging of individuals for no justifiable reason. We can expect more of the same impunity from its spokespersons.

We may even expect more of the same sub-par performance when it comes to implementing “projects”. Although, considering they were only able to carry out 2% of what they wanted to do with P17, we wonder how much they can, or should it be cannot do, with?10 billion.

P10 billion for the NTF-ELCAC is a bit much; P10 billion too much, in fact.

That is a lot of money, where could that P10 billion be placed? The Department of Agriculture, the Department of Health, the Department of National Defense, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the University of the Philippines, the Department of Interior and Local Government, and the Philippine National Police all saw budget cuts during the bicameral conference.

Any of them can put that P10 billion to better use.