This P19.1 billion, they said, could be better used to augment the budget for healthcare, job creation, and provision of assistance to those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, instead of it being utilized "to spread fake news, red tag and intimidate freedom loving citizens of this country." The House Makabayan Bloc has consistently opposed the P19-billion allocation for the NTF-ELCAC in the proposed 2021 budget. "After the end of World War II, the Huks fought for socio-economic reforms, including the emancipation of landless farmers, and were tagged as communists," Lagman added.
"This is reminiscent of the military’s foisting the paranoia of 'budgetary Huks' during the decades covering the 1950s to 1960s to dramatize the need for more allocations to subdue the erstwhile Hukbalahap (Hukbong Bayan Laban sa Hapon)," he said. Lagman said a similar scenario was seen back in the 1950s and the 1960s, right after World War II. "Red-tagging appears to be relentlessly pursued by military officials to justify the retention of the recently formed National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) which has a huge budgetary outlay of close to P20-billion and has been labeled as the 'military’s pork barrel,'" Lagman said in a statement. Albay Representative Edcel Lagman believes the military's propensity to "red-tag" while Congress is deliberating on the proposed 2021 national budget is a "calculated" move to secure more funds for its campaign against suspected insurgents and terrorists.
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