AFP eyes expanding role for deve­lopment projects

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang is willing to restore the funding for a program that implements deve­lopmental projects in depressed areas and those heavily influenced by insurgents, the military said yesterday.  

Armed Forces National Deve­lopment Support Command (NADESCOM) chief Maj. Gen. Carlos Holganza said the program, to be called Pamana (legacy), will reflect their expanded role, which now includes promoting development.

“We are going to reach out. The AFP has expanded its role in nation building. Gone are the days when the military is just there to fight the country’s battles,” Holganza said in a briefing yesterday.

Pamana will replace the Kalayaan Barangay Program, which consists of projects intended to discourage people from joining armed groups. These include the construction of school buildings, water systems, and farm-to-market roads.

The government had allotted P1 billion per year to KBP from 2008 to 2010. For next year, however, President Aquino terminated the funding for the program, saying it “no longer delivered its intended outcomes.”

“The KBP is still there. It is now under Pamana,” Holganza said. 

He said local officials have called for the restoration of the program.

 “If you recall in the budget hearings, most of the questions asked is about the KBP. It is not the AFP which has vested interest in KBP. It is the beneficiaries themselves, the governors, congressmen,” the NADESCOM chief said.

“(The beneficiaries) said ‘That (KBP) is the only program that reached our barangays. Why scrap it? This has reached the President so hini­lot yan (something was done about it),” he added.

NADESCOM chief of staff Col. Rodolfo Santiago said a technical working group will thresh out the implementing guidelines of Pamana. He said an amount of P1 billion may be allotted for the new program.

A possible set-up is that the Pamana funds will be under the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process (OPAPP), which will coordinate with other agencies for the execution of the projects. The said role used to belong to the Defense Department when the government was still funding the KBP.