BAGUIO CITY (PIA)– Department of Agriculture Secretary William Dar, the Cabinet Officer for Regional Development and Security (CORDS) for the Cordillera, calls for continuing the partnership in sustaining the momentum and gains of the Regional Task Force on Ending Local Communist Armed Conflict (ELCAC) this 2021 to 2022 and beyond in pursuit of peace and development.
“Turning swords into ploughshares is a bizarre act. It is like putting flowers in the barrel of a gun and turning the gun into a vase. At the end of the day that is what ELCAC is about and our plans and activities. Let us keep at it in our pursuit as development workers and peace makers,” Dar said.
The Secretary presided the RTF – ELCAC Cordillera 4th Quarter Meeting at the DA Regional Field Office here on Dec. 22 where the clusters of the regional task force presented their 2021 accomplishment reports.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG – CAR) also presented updates on the ongoing Support to Barangay Development Program (SBDP) projects and the Retooled Community Support Program (RCSP).
For the SBDP, there are eight barangays in the Cordillera (4 in Malibcong, Abra; 2 in Sallapadan, Abra; 1 in Rizal, Kalinga and 1 in Besao, Mountain Province) that are beneficiaries with a total of P160 million (P20 million each) socio-economic development assistance.
Of the total 25 SBDP projects in CAR, three are already completed, 11 are on –going, one up for implementation while seven have approved detailed engineering designs (DED) and three have DEDs under review.
For Fiscal Year 2022, there are 49 more proposed SBDP projects worth P340M set to benefit 18 more barangays (11 in Abra, 10 in Ifugao, 3 in Kalinga and 18 in Mountain Province).
Under the Retooled Community Support Program of ELCAC, 42 barangays are beneficiaries of interagency socio–economic development programs and projects.
For the DA’s part, Dar shared that from 2019–2021, the agency implemented several rural infrastructure and agricultural livelihood projects with a total cost of P1.6 billion in 72 communist–terrorist infiltrated, threatened and affected communities in the region
“Beyond the attainment of our physical targets and accomplishments, I hasten to add here that these projects were attained, in spite of the pandemic, through the ELCAC’s whole of nation approach and of course, your full cooperation and support. Needless to say, we supported each other achieve our goals, objectives and activities for the ELCAC communities and beneficiaries,” Dar said.
“The government wants all our rural communities to be thriving with abundant food and livelihood. The citizens should be enjoying the good things in life. It is what we are fighting for, the thrust of Ending Local Communist Armed Conflict and its Whole-of-Nation approach to the pursuit of peace and development,” the Secretary stressed. **(JDP/CCD-PIA CAR
