Congress is again holding national budget hearings. As expected, the National Task Force (NTF)-Elcac is again asking for billions of pesos for its Support to the Barangay Development Program (SBDP). In the National Expenditure Program submitted on July 28, Ferdinand Marcos Jr allocated ₱7.8 billion for the fascist agency. Last year, it received ₱2.16 billion for 864 “cleared” barangays. Contrary to the promise of improving the lives of peasants (supposedly to discourage them from supporting the armed struggle), the masses remain impoverished and even more oppressed because the fascist military used the SBDP as a cover to further torment the people.

Suffering in Barangay Hitapi-an

Barangay Hitapi-an in Catubig, Northern Samar is one of those included in NTF-Elcac’s SBDP in 2021, which received a ₱20-million fund. Two other barangays in Catubig (Osang, Nagoocan) were included in the SBDP of NTF-Elcac that year.

Promises of farm-to-market roads (FMR), classrooms, economic programs and financial aid to residents were made left and right in exchange for their “withdrawal of support” to the New People’s Army. These include the “pastry” project, and goat and duck farms. But all these failed after three years. In Osang, piles up sewing machines lay idle because the residents did not receive any sewing orders.

The 20th IB and NTF-Elcac blamed these failures on the residents for “having no training,” and on the local government for failing in its supposed role of preparing preliminary studies. Local officials said they were not consulted when these projets were planned and initially implemented.

It took almost four years for NTF-Elcac to finish paving the 400-meter road in Hitapi-an. Evidently without a proper plan, soldiers paved in the middle of the rice field destroying farms. The project cost a staggering ₱14 million, or ₱35,000 per meter of road. This is far more expensive than the agency’s similar FMRs in other regions, indicating a major anomaly. Worse, the road only reached the edge of the adjacent barangay and is far from the “market” or commercial center. The trip from the Catubig town center to Hitapi-an is still described as “muddy, far, and cuts across rice fields.” The AFP next plans to build an evacuation center, touted to be the biggest in town, although this is not the barangay’s priority.

The 20th IB placed Hitapi-an and the cluster of barangays targeted for SBDP under the Retooled Community Support Program (RCSP). Residents were required to “surrender” before they could avail of the benefits. The area was subjected under strict military control. Ang Bayan recorded at least 26 cases of serious human rights violations throughout Catubig from January 2021 to June 2024. These include extrajudicial killings, abductions, indiscriminate shootings and intimidation. In Hitapi-an and Osang, in particular, AB documented destruction of property, illegal searches and seizures, and threats to civilians.

In 2023, units of the 74th IB were deployed into this cluster to “assist” the 20th IB which was “incompetent” in defeating what then was claimed was a few remaining Red fighters in Northern Samar. The two battalions are in fierce competition in taking credit over civilians “requesting clearance” to claim bounty and funds from the ECLIP program.

Since last year, both military units have repeatedly imposed strict lockdowns on these barangays since. Soldiers are nervous and always on edge at the thought that they are surrounded by people who continue to support the revolutionary movement, fearing that the NPA might attack them at any moment. They closely monitor the residents’ every move and limit even their work hours. They also strictly monitor people who come and leave the barangay, requiring everyone to sign the logbook for fear of NPA “infiltration”. They restrict the purchase of food, fuel and other consumables in the belief that these will be passed on to Red fighters.