‘PAPA’ Gadon hails NTF-ELCAC’s anti-poverty programs

JG August 14, 2023

Presidential Adviser on Poverty Alleviation Secretary Larry Gadon on Monday (August 7, 2023) assured full support and cooperation with other government agencies specially the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) to curb poverty and uplift the lives of the Filipino people in areas vulnerable to recruitment and terrorism by the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) and their front organizations. Gadon who guested at the weekly NTF-ELCAC press briefing entitled “TAGGED Debunking Lies by Telling the Truth”, said he was awed by the achievements of the task force over the past five years since its creation through Executive Order No. 70 despite its receding budget. “As far as I know, the projects of NTF-ELCAC are really good. They really helped in stabilizing the peace situation in an area of concern dahil nakakapagbigay sila ng mga economic opportunities,” Gadon said. The anti-poverty czar expressed interest in the task force’s Barangay Development Program (BDP) which he said should be sustained and given more funding. Gadon said that while his office is not an implementing agency, it’s his mandate to synchronize all government efforts pursuant to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s “One Policy” to bring basic social services to poverty-stricken areas in the country. During his first State of the Nation Address (SONA), the President vowed to reduce poverty incidence rate to nine percent on or before he steps down from office. “Presidential Adviser on Poverty Alleviation is not an implementing agency. What we can only do is to conduct an assessment and evaluation in a particular area of concern. And then, we can recommend the projects that are already being undertaken by NTF-ELCAC,” Gadon stressed. Aside from NTF-ELCAC, Gadon said he will also do the same to the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) and the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP) which serve as direct links to the government’s poverty alleviation program. “That’s my role, to see to it that these agencies are really fulfilling their jobs for the benefit of our countrymen. Di pwedeng kanya-kanya dapat magtugma-tugma ang kanilang galaw. I would be acting like a conductor of an orchestra. Poverty alleviation is not just one government agency. We have the DA (Department of Agriculture) to help our farmers, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP), among others,” Gadon further explained. Meanwhile, Gadon also expressed confidence that the government’s whole-of-nation approach as now being exemplified by the task force would spur more job creation across the country. “Dapat ay isulong natin ng masigabo ang agricultural at industrial sector upang yang 95% na majority (workforce) ay mapunta sa permanent jobs,” Gadon said. Gadon praised the President for signing a bill into law that emancipated hundreds of thousand of farmers from their perennial debts. “Sa agricultural sector, he signed into law the Agricultural Emancipation. Malaki ang ginagawang tulong ng ating gobyerno para sa ating mga magsasaka. And I hope this will revive our agricultural sector,” he said. The peasant sector had been the most vulnerable among sectors where NPA recruitment is prevalent.

August 7, 2023