ILOILO: Over PHP1.07 billion have been made available for 238 projects under the Local Government Support to Barangay Development Program (SBDP) for barangays cleared from insurgency in Western Visayas from 2022 until 2024. SBDP is a flagship program of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). 'These projects are focused on poverty alleviation and development and geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas (GIDAs). These are formerly communist conflict-affected areas and have been cleared,' said engineer Juan Jovian Ingeniero, regional director of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) in Western Visayas, during the Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas on Tuesday. He said among the projects are farm-to-market roads, the installation of rural electrification, sanitary water systems, health stations, and school buildings, among others. He added the number of recipients is getting smaller since the number of conflict areas is fast declining. 'From the start, we targeted 170 conflict areas, but the number is declining. The number of sightings of rebels is also declining,' he said, adding that, together with the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, they hope to make Western Visayas cleared area by 2028. Other than the cleared conflict-affected areas, the SBDP also funded projects in GIDAs to let the residents feel the services of the government, he said. Source: Philippines News Agency