Over 90% of LGUs reject CPP as persona non grata – DILG

Department of the Interior and Local Government chief Eduardo Año said Friday that over 90% of local government units rejected the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) as persona non grata.

He said that the 1,546 of the 1,715 LGUs consist of 110 cities, 1,372 municipalities, and 64 provinces.

Año added at least 12,474 of the 42,046 barangays also banned local communists from entering their village.

“Maliwanag pa sa sikat ng araw na isinusuka na ng sambayanan ang mga komunista at ang mga front organizations nito. Nagpapasalamat kami sa mga LGUs na nagsasarado ng kanilang pintuan at ipinapakita ang kanilang mariing pagtutol sa mga komunistang grupo.”

“Much like the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, we need to finally end this very old problem using a whole-of-nation approach, and the support from our LGUs gives us great assurance that we are not alone in this war,” he added.

In October, Año encouraged local chief executives (LCEs) to display anti-communist tarpaulins in their cities.

Several banners and tarpaulins saying the CPP-NPA-NDF is not welcome were spotted in various areas in Metro Manila this week. They were found from NCR’s borders along the North Luzon Expressway to Marcos Highway, C-5 Road, and Manila City, among other places.

Over 90% of LGUs reject CPP as persona non grata – DILG

The one displayed along Roxas Boulevard had logos of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).

NTF-ELCAC was given a P19-billion budget for 2021 despite appeals of some minority senators to reallocate its funds, which were seven times higher than the P2.5 billion allocated for procurement of COVID-19 vaccines.

NTF-ELCAC covers 17 Regional Task Forces, 81 Provincial Task Forces, 1,405 City and Municipal Task Forces, and 26,044 Barangay Task Forces.