43 Negros Occidental barangays declared rebel-free

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — Forty-three more barangays in Negros Occidental have been declared free from the presence of communists insurgents, according to Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson.

Each rebel-free barangay is proposed to receive P10 million worth of infrastructure projects as part of the support to barangay development program (SBDP) of the Department of the Interior and Local Government, Lacson said.

The proposed budget for infrastructure projects in 43 barangays is P430 million.

The SBDP is a program of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict or NTF-ELCAC, the government’s whole-of-nation approach in fighting insurgency.