A retired Catholic bishop in Manila supported the call for an investigation into how funds are used by the government’s National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict and if the agency is actually effective in fulfilling its mandate.
Bishop Teodoro Bacani Jr., retired prelate of Novaliches, said it is just right to look into the performance of the task force especially after it accused critics of the government of having links with the communist underground movement.
“It is just right that [the task force] be investigated if its 19-billion-peso budget is being used to terrorize those who are doing good,” said the prelate.
“If you will feed those who terrorize, what will happen? The people will only lose trust in the government and may even join the communists,” said Bishop Bacani in an interview with Radio Veritas 846.
He stressed the danger of “red-tagging,” adding that many of those who have been accused of being communist were killed.
The Philippine Senate has earlier announced that it will look into possible “double disbursements” in the anti-insurgency task force’s funds after several senators called for an inquiry to determine whether or not the task force “is effective in fulfilling its mandate and efficient in its budget utilization.”
