Posted on 12/07/2003 8:21:31 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
AFTER the controversial permit-to-campaign (PTC) fees, the New People's Army (NPA) is now reportedly demanding permit-to-win (PTW) fees from politicians all over the country.
Col. Daniel Lucero, spokesman of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), said Friday they discovered the PTW plan of the NPA from documents seized in a rebel camp in Quezon province few weeks back.
He said in the PTW scheme of the NPA, the candidate who will give the biggest amount to the rebels would win. Lucero said the rebels, in turn, would ensure victory for the candidate by threatening other candidates and the citizens to vote for their chosen candidate.
Lucero said the rebels are demanding as much as P3 million from the politicians for their PTW. He added that the CPP-NPA expects to raise at least P2 billion for their PTC and PTW fees.
"When we started including the NPA in the international terrorist list they lost funds from their international sources so they are badly in need of funding now," Lucero added. - With report from Peng Aliño
With the main victim denying he was held hostage by about 50 New People’s Army guerrillas, police said Thursday they are going ahead with plans to arrest the rebels involved after identifying at least two of them.
Reports said that Nationalist People’s Rep. Giorgidi Aggabao of Isabela, Mayor Leoncio Kiat of Echague and Mayor Virgillo Padilla of San Agustin, a candidate for the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, and their bodyguards were disarmed and held for hours in barangay San Felipe, Echague, Isabela, “for campaigning too early” without first paying the guerrillas’ so-called permit to campaign.
Chief Supt. Jefferson Soriano, Cagayan Valley police commander, said robbery charges are being prepared by his office against members of the suspect band of the NPA.
Soriano said two of the rebels were positively identified by the victims from the police gallery.
Thursday, Aggabao denied, however, he had been kept and restrained by the rebels for not paying permit-to-campaign fee.
Appearing at a media forum in Quezon City, Aggabao said he was just stopped while visiting the barangay because the rebels apparently thought he was ignoring their invitation for them to discuss their imposition.
He said an NPA courier had been sent to his office while he was away and the message did not reach him before he and his party visited the barangay. Aggabao said he and the local rebel band have agreed to set another meeting.
He defended this attitude -- the military said it will criminally charge those who willingly pay the NPA to be able to campaign without being molested by the rebels -- by saying it seems there is no way that politicians, especially in remote districts, could escape caving in to the rebels’ extortion.
“It seems there is no way of avoiding this, especially in Isabela where 70 percent of the areas are influenced by the NPA,” said Aggabao. He said he will try to convince the rebels to spare him from paying their “fee” because his district is very poor.
Observers in the forum immediately pointed out that Aggabao seems to intend to pay, if forced to, from the municipal coffers and that the claim of the military of having driven the NPA to small parts of his political district is just plain propaganda since Aggabao had admitted that a large area is influenced by the communists in his province.
In a telephone interview, Soriano said the 502nd Infantry Brigade under Col. Napoleon Malana had been sent to search for the rebels.
The police and the military are now asking candidates to coordinate with them and ask for additional security if they are to campaign in known rebel-infested areas to prevent the repetition.
In a separate interview, Senior Supt. Joel Goltiao, chief of the National Police public information office, said that since the problem on the NPA extortion activities is a “preventive” one “so those concerned should coordinate with us and ask for additional security if there is a necessity. If they are going to rebel-infested areas under the areas of responsibility of the military, they should coordinate with the military. The same with the PNP.”
Party-List Rep. Loretta Ann Rosales of Akbayan blasted the Communist Party of the Philippines and the NPA for their “arrogance” and “flaunting of power against politicians who are campaigning in areas they control.”
Rosales was reacting to the Aggabao incident. “I denounce that,” she added, saying the NPA’s action and all similar others against other candidates “were violations of the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights and Respect for International Humanitarian Law” signed with the government by the rebels.
By Delfin Mallari Jr. and Marlon Ramos
Inquirer News Service
LUCENA CITY -- New People's Army (NPA) rebels under the Lucio de Guzman Command claimed responsibility for the ambush on Occidental Mindoro Rep. Josephine Ramirez-Sato, her aide and three police escorts.
The rebels said the attack was prompted by the lawmaker's refusal to pay permit to campaign fees and for bringing armed escorts in guerrilla zones.
"We had already warned her several times in the past to settle her PTC with us but she kept on ignoring our warning, probably because she was banking on the armed security being provided to her by the police and the military," Higom Maragang, spokesperson of the NPA Lucio de Guzman Command that operates on Mindoro Island, said in a mobile phone interview Thursday.
Maragang chided Sato for her too much dependence on the "false security" being provided by government forces.
"With that line of thinking, she completely ignored the fact that the military and the police were the usual targets of our tactical offensives," he said.
Sato's two convoy vehicles were ambushed by a band of NPA rebels armed with M-16 and M-14 assault rifles in Barangay Alakaak, Sta. Cruz town at about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Police said the congresswoman suffered a slight wound in the head while her police escorts were also hit but only suffered superficial wounds.
Occidental Mindoro board member Randy Ignacio was wounded in the right hand.
Maragang said the ambush was not well-planned.
"The Red fighters just grabbed the opportunity when the convoy passed by. They were not even in an ambush position," he said.
"But just the same, we have made our message clear that politicians who would want to enter our territory to campaign must first secure the PTC or else, they will suffer the consequences," Maragang said.
Communist spokesman Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal said the NPA attacked the convoy of Sato after the gubernatorial candidate of the ruling Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats in Mindoro campaigned inside guerrilla territory with soldiers as escorts.
Rosal also said that Sato was "sentenced for her anti-communist drive in Mindoro and her ill-advised decision to work with (the) blood-thirsty military in the island."
"She (Sato) was really hard-headed. We have already made it clear to all candidates who want to enter our controlled areas not to bring in any military or police personnel with them. I hope she now understands that the NPA is serious in implementing our rules," Rosal said.
He also scoffed at Sato who, he said, had challenged the rebels' strength to repel military offensives against the rebel group in the island.
He said the lawmaker even belittled the NPA's "resolve to go against erring politicians like her" and the military's alleged reign of terror in Mindoro.
"Sato even dared the NPA, which she said was diminishing in number, to fight the military. Now her words only fell back straight to her face," Rosal said.
16 rebels charged for detaining solon - March 11, 2004
By Florante Solmerin, Northern Luzon Bureau
CAMP FAUSTINO DY SR., Ilagan, Isabela—Police filed in court charges of robbery in band against 16 suspected members of the communist New People’s Army, who held hostage for about two hours Rep. Giorgidi Aggabao of the Fourth District, two mayors and several others in a remote barangay in Echague on February 23.
The charges were filed by Supt. Agripino Lopez Jr., chief of the Intelligence and Investigation Section of the Isabela provincial police, before the sala of Judge Renato Pine of the Ilagan Regional Trial Court.
Named respondents in the charge sheet were suspected NPA members Wilfredo Valencia alias Ka Janus, Evangeline Rapanut alias Ka Dabbie, Victorio Tesorio alias Ka Ikoy, Remedios Dawag alias Ka Rosa, Teofilo Veronilla alias Ka Roy, Roberto Benedicto alias Ka Jun, Renato Busania alias Ka Ric, Bobby Castro alias Ka Bambi, Gavino Acosta Jr. alias Ka Ariel, Arnel Cardona alias Ka Landas, Rolando Busania alias Ka Leo, Fernando Manglay alias Ka Renel, Armando Inong alias Ka Justin, Gloria Dawag alias Ka Mai, Adriano Dulatre alias Ka Norby and Sheryl Arcilla alias Ka Rina.
Lopez said the suspects were members of the Cagayan Valley Regional Committee of the NPA’s Southern Front Operational Command.
“We are still in the process of identifying the other NPA rebels who joined in the hostage-taking,” Lopez added.
The suspects were accused of taking hostage for at least two hours on February 23 Aggabao and two mayors—Leoncio Kiat of Echague and Virgilio Padilla of Jones in the remote barangay of Nilumiso in Echague.
Also with the group was Dr. Matthew Alindada, a candidate for board member in Isabela as well as Police Officer 1 Carlo Valenzuela and Police Officer 1 Alejandro Mateo, who served as escorts of the politicians.
Reports said Aggabao and his party were returning from a campaign sortie in Barangay Nilamisu and neighboring villages when their convoy was stopped by about 50 heavily armed NPA members.
Reports also said the rebels stopped Aggabao and the other candidates for allegedly failing to pay the permit to campaign (PTC) fees demanded by the NPA to enable them to enter rebel-held territories.
Sources from the military and police intelligence community in the province said Aggabao and the mayors paid at least P2 million in fees to the rebels in exchange for their freedom.
Aggabao, however, vehemently denied paying such fees.
Communist rebels step up PTC drive in South Cotabato - March 19, 2004 By ROMER S. SARMIENTO
KORONADAL CITY - Communist rebels have intensified their collection of permit-to-campaign (PTC) fees from local candidates in South Cotabato province, military and local government officials said.
Tampakan Mayor Claudius Barroso, president of the Municipal Mayors League in the province, confirmed that New People’s Army rebels have started demanding payments from candidates for them to be able to campaign in communist bailiwicks.
“I personally received a demand [for a PTC] from the NPA rebels but just ignored it. This is plain extortion,” Barroso said.
He urged the other candidates to reject the demand, saying that heeding it would only boost the operational capability of the communist movement.
After receiving the demand, Barroso said he immediately notified the authorities for additional security arrangements in his town, where the NPA has been known to operate.
Lt. Col. Fidel Pumihic, 27th Infantry Battalion commander, also said that several local candidates have been notified by the NPA rebels to pay the PTC fee.
He said he already ordered his troops to intensify their military operations in the mountainous portions of South Cotabato to quell the attempts of the NPA rebels to collect PTC fees from the candidates.
Pumihic refused to identify the politicians whom the rebels had approached.
But reports said that among those who have received demands for the payment of PTC fees were politicians from the municipalities of Tupi, Tampakan, Polomolok, Banga and T’boli.
No PTC for Poe in Misamis - March 17, 2004
The New People’s Army (NPA) in Misamis Oriental has exempted Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP) standard-bearer Fernando Poe Jr. and his party mates from its permit-to-campaign (PTC) fees, giving the opposition bets’ freedom to campaign in the province.
The KNP said Poe and his party’s exemption from the PTC, which the rebels are imposing on candidates who are campaigning in areas they control all over the country, was an expression of support to his candidacy.
Retired Army Gen. Jaime Echeverria, the KNP’s campaign coordinator for Mindanao, confirmed the rebels’ support to Poe as they monitored that some of the guerrillas’ even attended Poe’s huge rally in Claveria town.
“We were worried when we heard that NPA rebel bands were deploying in the Hills just outside of Claveria. But we eventually found out that they came out for FPJ,” he said.
Echeverria said that while Poe and the entire slate of the KNP are exempted from the PTC, the candidates of the administration are not.
KNP senatorial candidate Juan Ponce Enrile said, “The NPA is for the masses, and Poe’s campaign is anchored on the uplift of the masses. It is no surprise at all that the NPA would go for Poe.”
Even in Bicol Region the candidates of the KNP have been passed off from the campaign fee, according to another KNP senatorial candidate, Salvador Escudero.
He said his campaigners have not been harassed while “local candidates allied with the administration Lakas party have already paid PTC to the NPA.”
GRP to raise PTC at peace talks - Mar 18, 2004
MANILA (AFP) - Philippine government negotiators will question communist rebel extortion of election candidates when peace talks resume in April, a senior official said yesterday. We will definitely have to raise this because of all the appeals of the people (who) want this to be part of the discussion,” chief government peace negotiator Teresita Deles told reporters. The New People’s Army (NPA) has been collecting millions of pesos (tens of thousands of dollars) from candidates in the May 10 elections in exchange for being allowed to campaign unmolested in areas where the rebels are active, military officials say.
Deles conceded that the government did not have a ceasefire in place with the NPA but said their actions could be considered a violation of the comprehensive agreement on human rights that both sides had agreed to in earlier talks.
The NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), have attacked three legislators, several politicians and their aides in recent months, allegedly over their refusal to pay for “permit to campaign” fees.
Deles said the issue of extortion was raised in the last round of peace talks with the government held in Norway last month but there had not been time to discuss it in depth.
The NPA, which has have been waging a 35-year armed insurgency, has stepped up attacks during campaigning for the elections.
Norway’s assistant director for foreign affairs, Tore Hattrem, said that the next round of talks would be held in April although he would not say whether they would again be held in Norway. China has rejected a request to host the negotiations.
Hattrem, whose country has been fostering the peace process between Manila and the CPP, said “I’m optimistic that a peace agreement will be achieved sooner or later,” adding that his government was patient enough to wait out any prolonged talks.
Progress in the talks has been hampered by the communists’ demand that they be taken off the lists of “foreign terrorist organizations” kept by the United States and other Western nations.
The military announced Thursday that four communist guerrillas, including a local leader, were captured.
Posted: 7:16 PM (Manila Time) | Mar. 29, 2004
Inquirer News Service
DAVAO CITY-Communist rebels forcibly drove away campaigners of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte's Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod (Alliance of the City People) party, who went to Paquibato district here on Saturday, a party official said Monday.
Wendel Avisado, Hugpong secretary general, told reporters here Monday that their supporters were serving as an advance team for the party's candidates when a group of NPA rebels stopped them from entering Paquibato proper.
Hugpong candidates were scheduled to conduct a rally in at least three villages in the district on Saturday but it was not immediately known whether Duterte was among them.
Avisado said the rebels asked their supporters to get out of the area because the party has not paid permit-to-campaign fees yet.
Paquibato district is a known stronghold of the communist rebels.
The NPA has repeatedly said it would only allow candidates into its areas if they have paid the necessary permit-to-campaign fees.
The incident forced Hugpong to reschedule its campaign in the district.
But Avisado said Duterte was steadfast in his decision not to give in to the rebels' demand.
He said the mayor has urged party members and campaigners to continue with their activities.
"The harassment would not prevent us from going to those areas," Avisado said.
Luis Jalandoni, chairman of the peace panel of the clandestine National Democratic Front (NDF), said the collections would continue even if this would be raised in the next round of talks with the government panel set on March 30 to April 2 in Oslo, Norway.
"The political candidates are the ones who are approaching the revolutionary movement because they recognize our influence and capacity," Jalandoni said on Friday through phone patch from the NDF international office in Utrecht, The Netherlands.
He spoke to around 100 delegates of the regional assembly of the militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) in Panay held here.
Anthony S. Allada, Inquirer Mindanao Bureau with a report from Nestor Burgos Jr., Inquirer Visayas Bureau
By Claudine C. Dumalag
* The victims reveal the suspects who were wearing bonnets pointed at them their firearms that were mostly M14 and M16 armalite rifles
AT LEAST 15 unidentified fully armed men, believed to be guerillas of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA), threatened two Municipal Council members in Moises Padilla town last Wednesday afternoon.
Police investigation disclosed that the victims -- Council Members Humphrey Hechanova and Tutie Muchuelas -- were on their way home when the suspects blocked them in a secluded area along Sitio Tobobong, Barangay Quintin Remo, at 1 p.m.
The victims said the armed men wearing bonnets pointed their firearms that were mostly M14 and M16 armalite rifles and directed them to pay the so-called campaign tax or permit-to-campaign (PTC) fees before they could enter the NPA- controlled areas.
The victims further revealed that before the rebels left them, the suspects took their cellular phones.
Troopers of the 11th Infantry Battalion conducted hot pursuit operations around Moises Padilla to locate the suspects.
Brig. General Jeffrey Sodusta, commander of the 303rd Infantry Brigade, recently disclosed that two candidates from southern Negros were receiving extortion letters from the NPAs asking them to pay access fees.
Sodusta deployed troopers in the mountainous areas to prevent further extortion activities.
Reports earlier indicated that NPAs ask politicians P50,000 to P70,000 as campaign fees.
Sodusta advised all candidates not to give in to the rebels' demand.
Many Mindanao bets paid PTC fees
MANY of the candidates in Mindanao have paid the controversial permit-to-campaign (PTC) fees, said an official of the National Democratic Front (NDF). However, Jorge Madlos, NDF-Southern Mindanao spokesperson, refused to reveal the identities the candidates who paid the PTC fees, saying the NDF is abiding by the confidentiality agreement. I cannot reveal the names of these candidates for their protection,” said Madlos, known in the movement as Ka Oris, in an interview over DXDC.
He added that the NDF and its armed component, the New People’s Army (NPA), will always support the denial of the candidates that they did not pay the PTC fees to protect their candidacies.
NDF warns bets refusing to pay PTC fee: Don’t resist
By MANUEL T. CAYON
TODAY Reporter
DAVAO CITY - The National Democratic Front (NDF) said almost all candidates in Northeastern and Southern Mindanao regions had paid or were willing to pay the permit-to-campaign (PTC) fees it has imposed on politicians campaigning in communist-influenced areas.
Singling out North Cotabato Gov. Emmanuel Piñol for his refusal to pay the PTC fee, the NDF warned against any armed challenge to its “taxation authority.”
“Any breach in the authority of the movement by armed means would be met by armed reaction from the New People’s Army,” said Jorge Madlos, alias Ka Oris, NDF spokesman for Mindanao.
Madlos said “countless” politicians in Mindanao “have paid in full or partially, committed to pay, or have not paid yet but have negotiated” to be allowed to campaign in areas with guerrilla presence.
He said that “almost all have already paid or negotiated in the Caraga [northeastern] and the Southern Mindanao regions, “except [Gov. Emmanuel] Piñol, who vowed not to pay it.”
“Let us just wait at the entire campaign stretch if he would not give in,” Madlos said, referring to Piñol.
He warned that if Piñol or any candidate “would try to breach this taxation rule by bringing his armed bodyguards, he would be met by the armed might of the revolutionary movement which will neutralize his armed men.”
“He will not be our target, but if in the course of the fighting he is hit, then so be it,” he said.
He added, “Armed bodyguards are open targets, especially those without coordination and those whose intention is to protect their master who would not pay revolutionary taxes.”
Asked how much the NDF has collected so far, he said, “it’s already in millions,” adding that candidates from both the administration and the opposition had negotiated or have paid.
Madlos defended the taxation act of the NDF, saying, “We all know that we have two governments existing in the Philippines, the one in Malacañang, the other one in the countryside.”
“Both have territories, constituency, justice system, administrative activities, and both collect taxes,” he said.
Madlos said the big portion of the PTC fees would go “to finance the organizing and consolidation activities of the NPA, and the extending of social services.”
“Only 20 percent of the NPA activities is military, but 80 percent goes to organizing the masses and conducting mass work.”
“You can just imagine, for instance, 60 NPAs doing organizing work in one place. The food stock of the masses would be easily used up if the movement would not subsidize their presence,” he said.
He said the same principle would be used to allocate the taxes paid by logging and mining companies, and other big business activities within the reach of the revolutionary movement.
“The revolutionary movement has long tried to reach these politicians for taxation, but it was difficult to trace their business activities,” Madlos said. “Now that it’s election time, then it would be easier to tax now.”
He said the taxation activity would also be used to exact commitment from or draw their opinion on the “basic demands of the masses for genuine agrarian reform and national industrialization.”
Lakas Rep. Josephine Ramirez Sato, a gubernatorial candidate of Occidental Mindoro, urged the government Friday to investigate the two recent ambushes in a month where she was the target and for which the communist-led New People's Army (NPA) claimed responsibility.
"It is not enough that the NPA owned up to these ambushes. I am calling [on] the concerned government agencies to act and investigate these ambushes," she told dzMM. "For all we know, my political opponents are conniving with the NPA to eliminate me."
Sato said she suspects her rivals' involvement in the ambuscades because they would be the "immediate beneficiaries" in case she dies.
For the second time Thursday, Sato survived an NPA attack while her convoy was about to cross a bridge during a campaign sortie.
Sato said she and her running mate, Mario Jean Mendiola, were part of the three-vehicle convoy and were about to cross the Mompong Bridge in barangay Malitbong in Sablayan town when a land mine suddenly exploded but missed to hit their vehicles. No one was reported hurt in the incident.
On March 3 she was also ambushed by NPA guerrillas in Santa Cruz town, which is adjacent to Sablayan. She was with a candidate for the provincial board at the time.
Sato, Provincial Board Member Randy Ignacio and three escorts identified as Senior Police Officer 1 Vic Sagun, Police Officer 1 Larry Hilario and PO1 Noel Layona were wounded in the attack.
MANILA--Communist guerrillas have abducted a town mayor and three bodyguards on the troubled island of Mindoro south of the capital, the military said Monday.
Alex Arenas, the mayor of Pola, was released unharmed eight hours after his kidnapping, but the New People's Army (NPA) is still holding his three bodyguards, military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Lucero said.
The rebels are demanding P200,000 in ransom, Lucero said in a statement. The NPA wounded a legislator, Josephine Sato, in an ambush on Mindoro last month.
The military alleges the NPA is extorting money from candidates in the May 10 elections and attacking those who refuse to pay up. The Maoist rebels have been waging a 35-year insurgency.
Meanwhile, government troops have rescued a woman who was abducted on the southern island of Mindanao, a military spokesman said Monday.
Marines raided two houses near Maguing town and Marawi city on Sunday and rescued Zambo Bai Amerol, Marine Corps spokesman Captain Rommel Abrau said.
The soldiers arrested three suspects who had demanded P1.2 million in ransom, he added. (AFP)
Church leaders blast communist NPA tax - Monday, April 12, 2004
By Charmaine Y. Rodriguez and Karen M. Flores
CEBU CITY -- Catholic Church leaders in the country plan to issue a statement condemning the collection of revolutionary taxes and warning public officials against giving in to this form of "extortion."
Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal said the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) already agreed to publish a statement "protesting" these acts of rebel groups.
"We will condemn it, yes, certainly. That cuts the freedom of the candidates to go around and be visible to the people," he told reporters in an interview after Easter Sunday mass.
Asked for his advice to candidates under pressure from the Communist New People's Army, Vidal said, "It's up to them. We leave that to their good sense. It's a real problem but what can we do?"
Two of the three leading gubernatorial candidates this year admitted receiving demand letters from armed rebel groups in connection with the May 10 elections.
Gubernatorial candidate Celestino "Junie" Martinez Jr. and lawyer Pablo John Garcia, on behalf of his sister Gwendolyn, confirmed in separate phone interviews that they received hand-carried letters a few weeks ago asking them to "make arrangements so as not to jeopardize the campaign."
Both said they have decided to ignore the letters for now.
Church briefing
Cardinal Vidal, who sits as overall chairman of C-Cimpel, a citizen's arm accredited by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), still hopes there will be "no untoward happening" in the May 10 polls.
Vidal met the PNP, the military and representatives from Comelec 7 and C-Cimpel last Wednesday.
The prelate has also called on the Catholic faithful to vote for "truthful, just and loving" candidates and asked the members of the clergy to guide the electorate to choose those who are wise and morally upright as well.
However, he reiterated his warning to his priests not to get involved in partisan political activity.
"They should never use the pulpit. If they are going to use the pulpit, it is to give the principles on how vote wisely, peacefully and honestly. But to name a person? That would be partisan," he added.
Earlier, the Archdiocese of Cebu and Human Life International recognized 20 of the country's pro-life members of Congress.
Vidal revealed Sunday that it was also during that gathering when he learned about the NPA's collection of revolutionary taxes and cited that in Bohol, a candidate had to pay P300,000 just to be allowed to campaign.
Access fees
Martinez said a letter delivered to his camp from an armed group whose name he cannot recall demanded for the payment of an "access fee" and that most of the other candidates in his area have received these too.
No amount was specified, however.
So far, he said they have no plans yet about how to treat the letter.
Pablo John, who received the letter sent a month ago to gubernatorial candidate Gwendolyn Garcia, said a "brigade of the National Democratic Front" asked to meet with Gwen or her representative to discuss "arrangements."
He said they chose not to agree to the meeting because "there is no way to verify the authenticity of this brigade, its existence and its purpose."
Pablo John said the "official stand" they have taken is that they will first "verify the authenticity of the letter." "Pending verification, we will ignore it and after verification, we intend to report it to the authorities," he said further.
The Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 is advising candidates and their groups to submit such letters and demands to its Regional Intelligence and Investigation Division (RIID) for verification.
The RIID will submit its findings--without recommendation, however--to Comelec. It will then be up to the Comelec to take action on the matter based on the police's findings.
Extortion
Pablo John and Martinez agreed that the letters are "veiled attempts to extort" money from candidates.
For her part, Cebu Provincial Board (PB) Member Ina Asirit, campaign coordinator of Vice Gov. John Gregory Osmeña, another gubernatorial candidate, said they have not received such a demand so far, but that they also intend to refuse to "entertain" any letter of this sort.
"If we give them what they want, we would only provide them a means to augment their logistics. That's not good governance because we are supposed to bring them in from the cold," Asirit said in a phone interview.
Asked if this does not pose a security threat to them and the others in their group, Asirit replied, "What will they do? Kill us?"
A candidate who ran in 2001, who asked not to be named, said he received a letter then and that he decided to ignore it. There were neither follow-ups from the supposed armed group or any threat to his life, the candidate related.
Martinez recalled an incident in 2001 when the vehicle of an allied candidate in one of the towns the military calls Cebu's "mid-north area" was sprayed with bullets, allegedly by armed rebels.
He said it was believed that the incident was tied to the candidate's decision to ignore a demand letter.
THE Pampanga Police Provincial Office (PPPO) Monday said the three rebels killed in Barangay San Agustin, Sta. Ana belonged to a group believed to be planning the liquidation of a mayoral candidate in Sta. Ana.
In a press statement, the PPO said the killed cadres were part of a group of 23 armed members of the Komiteng Seksiyon Platoon of the Southeastern Pampanga Guerilla Front Committee-Pampanga Provincial Party Committee. The group, PPPO director Rodolfo Mendoza, Jr. said, has jurisdiction over two armed propaganda units operating in the towns of Arayat, Mexico and Sta. Ana under the command of a certain "Ka Leony."
The group, Mendoza added, may have been outlining the killing of the mayoral candidate - whose name is withheld for security reasons - who reportedly refused to pay permits-to-campaign (PTC) fees.
PTC fees are required by the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA) from candidates running for elective posts in the upcoming electoral exercises before allowing them to campaign in areas that the rebel group considers as "territories."
The presence of the group in the area was purportedly relayed to the PPPO by concerned barangays tanods who are part of the established Barangay Information Network System.
At 1:15 p.m. Sunday, elements of the PPO composed of the Provincial Special Reaction Unit and the 310th Provincial Mobile Group, Regional Mobile Group 3, and the 69th Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army led by Supt. Abner Dimabuyu engaged the rebels in a gunfight that led to the neutralization of the three rebels.
The police also seized from the site two M16 rifles, one M14 rifle, two flares, one hand grenade, eight magazine for M16, four M14 magazine, one bottle Piltrex anti-bacterial capsule, one stethoscope and three backpacks containing subversive documents and personal belongings.
As of Monday afternoon, Sta. Ana municipal police director Narvin Mangune said one of the rebels was identified as Romano Suba Carlos, 22, of Nueva Victoria, Mexico, while the two other fatalities are yet to be identified.
Mangune said military operatives are still monitoring the area for any further operation of the rebel group.
ALICIA, Bohol - As the campaign heats up, at least four alleged members of the New People’s Army (NPA) on Wednesday evening shot the gas tank and smashed the windshields of a car of an official in this town, sowing terror among the residents in barangay Untaga after firing several shots while a political rally was going on.
The incident came less than a month after the two separate bloody encounters in the hinterland towns of Catigbian and Batuan between government troops and the rebels that killed at least five rebels and one soldier.
In a check in a repair shop, the windshield and glasses of the rear and four doors of the car were shattered into pieces and the gasoline tank was shot, indicating a try to blow up the white GLI Toyota Corolla service car with plate number TTB 557.
Vice-Mayor Verginio Madriñan, who is running for reelection unopposed, said in an interview that he could not believe that the rebels did it to him on April 14, around 10:30 p.m. while he was delivering his campaign speech.
He, however, confirmed that the rebels have been asking from him to pay the permit-to-campaign (PTC) fee, which he refused. He said he never gives in to this kind of “extortion” ever since he ran for the same post, even when he had an opponent.
Madriñan said he thought they were being fired at while onstage. Witnesses said that the four armed men left the place shouting they are NPAs. R. Obedencio
MANILA -- President Arroyo ordered more police protection Saturday for presidential candidates after a warning from church leaders that communist insurgents could turn the May elections into a farce.
Police “must conduct a close watch over armed groups and preempt poll-related violence,” said Arroyo, who is seeking a full six-year term in the May 10 polls after assuming the presidency on the back of a military-backed popular revolt three years ago.
“I condemn all forms of attacks against political candidates as an attack against the democratic process,” she said in a written statement.
At least 70 Roman Catholic bishops issued Friday a condemnation of communist New People's Army (NPA) guerrillas whom they alleged were out to hijack the election through extortion.
“Taxation is an act of a sovereign state,” the bishops said in a signed public statement.
“If candidates refuse to pay the money demanded of them by the NPA and fail to campaign as widely as is their right and lose in their bid to be elected, would that be grounds for declaring a failure of elections?”
If “the winners are those who paid the NPA, doesn't this mean control of our election process not by the government but by the NPA?” they added.
Military officials estimate the NPA has collected at least P5 million in permit-to-campaign fees from candidates.
Police said 117 people have been killed and 124 people wounded in election-related violence incidents since December -- half of them linked to communist attacks.
Arroyo's national security adviser Norberto Gonzales alleged the NPA is extorting money from candidates as well as using its 8,700-strong guerrilla force to coerce and intimidate voters into supporting fringe political parties with alleged ties to the rebels.
Gonzales is seeking the disqualification of these six parties, all of which are seeking seats in the House of Representatives.
Military chief Lieutenant General Rodolfo Garcia said the NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), has been financing its operations through extortion. The NPA has been waging an armed campaign since 1969.
Garcia said the NPA operates in about six percent of the country's 42,000 districts and villages and operates “shadow governments” in more than 500 villages. AFP
NPAs collect P2 billion in campaign-permit fees - Monday, April 19, 2004
THE New People’s Army has already amassed P2 billion in permit-to-campaign money, according to an alliance of party-list groups.
Besides money, Remy Rikken of Abanse Pinay said rebels also demand for firearms from local candidates in the May 10 election.
“The PTC seems to be taken as a joke. The government has to look into this because the NPA has been benefiting from it,” Rikken, whose group belongs to a coalition called Caucus, said at a press conference.
Caucus, in which Akbayan, Anak Mindanao, Association of Philippine Electric Cooperatives, Butil and Sanlakas are also part of, called on the NPA to be true to its ideals and stop collecting PTC fees.
“We ask the Comelec [Commission on Elections], the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines to safeguard the election in curbing the NPA armed interference,” party-list Rep. Etta Rosales of Akbayan stressed.
She said the extortion activities of the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA teach the candidates to be corrupt when they get elected.
“To [recover] their [candidates’] loans and expenses in paying the PTCs, they are tempted to commit corruption,” Rosales emphasized.
George Paterno of Butil noted that residents in the countryside, including supporters of other party-list groups, are also threatened by the NPA to vote for Bayan Muna, lest they will be killed.
“In 2001 besides collecting PTCs, the NPA also demanded that Bayan Muna should win. Now it is demanding that its bets should win—or else . . .” he said.
Caucus also challenged Bayan Muna and its allies to denounce the NPA’s alleged antipeople practice of extorting PTC fees to cast out doubts that they are supporting the rebel group.
National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales had accused Bayan Muna, Gabriela, Anakpawis, Anak ng Bayan, Migrante and Suara Bangsamoro as among the party-list groups which serve as fronts for the CPP. --Ronnie Calumpita, Correspondent
Posted: 8:46 PM (Manila Time) | Apr. 20, 2004
By Joel Francis Guinto
INQ7.net
SUSPECTED members of the communist New People's Army (NPA) kidnapped the mayor of Jiabong town in Western Samar province, her running mate, and an undetermined number of supporters while they were campaigning, a spokesman for the Philippine National Police (PNP) said Tuesday.
In an interview with INQ7.net, Senior Superintendent Joel Goltiao identified the victims as Mayor Chanita Gavieta, her running mate Armingol Cabubas. He added the victims were being kept at an NPA hideout in the municipality of Catbalogan.
Goltiao said police and military operations were underway to recover the mayor and her party.
"That's a very remote area," Goltiao said, referring to Jiabong, which he confirmed was "NPA-infested."
He added the rebels had asked for a 200,000 to 500,000-peso ransom but the victims' families refused.
The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines. They have been harassing candidates into paying extortion money in exchange for campaigning in rebel-held areas.
An incumbent mayor and her wards belonging to the LDP/Lakas alliance were abducted by suspected members of the New People’s Army in Samar on Monday after the mayor reportedly failed to pay the rebels’ “permit-to-campaign” (PTC) fees.
Mayor Minita Gabieta, mayoral candidate of the Lakas-CMD in Jabong, Western Samar, and Vice Mayor Armingol Caub, along with several councilors and supporters were later held for ransom of P500,000.
According to initial reports reaching Camp Crame, Gabieta and her party were abducted by alleged rebel suspects led by a certain Kumander Bambi for failing to pay the permit-to-campaign fees.
The rebels were reportedly demanding P200,000 from Gabieta, P75,000 from Caub and P7,500 each for the councilors. Four of the councilors were identified as Sixto Hernandez, Maria Labang, Reynaldo Limbanan and Hermenegildo Mabutin.
Reports said the rebels ordered Gabieta’s staff to go back to town to produce P200,000 in exchange for the release of the hostages. They came back with only P100,000, and the hostages were released on Monday evening.
Chief Supt. Dionisio Coloma has directed all police units to monitor the whereabouts of the abductors, who are believed to be hiding in barangay Cagusipan in Catbalogan.
Earlier, Senate President Frank Drilon chided the National Police to take a more aggressive stance in investigating cases involving election-related violence.
The Liberal Party that Drilon heads has been a victim of such violence. L.P. mayoral bet Alex Aranas of Pola, Oriental Mindoro, was earlier abducted by rebels. Five local L.P. leaders were abducted in Batangas and found dead two days later.
Also in Batangas, Venancio Centeno Jr., L.P. candidate for councilor in Talisay town, was shot dead by an unidentified gunman as he ate in a roadside restaurant.
Six more areas, meanwhile, are to be added to the list as “areas of immediate concern” in the upcoming elections by the Philippine National Police, bringing the total number to 25.
The areas of San Carlos, Pangasinan; Saramon, Isabela; Santiago, Isabela; Mataas na Kahoy, Batangas; Paglas, Maguindanao, and Kastilla, Masbate, were added to the list as “primary areas of concern” in the May polls.
Chief Supt. Joel Goltiao, PNP spokesman, said the PNP is intensifying efforts to neutralize private armies being bankrolled by politicians and violators of the election gun ban.
Goltiao said the police force has arrested 1,617 violators of the election gun ban, seizing 1,276 firearms, of which 357 are high-powered.
The election gun ban will run through June 7.
While the PNP has either neutralized or dismantled six partisan armed groups, there are still 119 such groups, with 81 operating in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Thirty persons have been arrested for election-related incidents, but Goltiao does not expect the incidence (of election-related violence) to rise further.
As of this writing, the PNP has ranked Bicol region as the area most prone to election violence with 10 cases, the highest recorded in any region.
Goltiao stressed that there will be no overload of responsibility in their campaign, saying that duties and areas of jurisdiction are methodically planned out and distributed.
In a recent interview, Goltiao said that electoral candidates will play a vital role in assuring peaceful and orderly elections. He even urged them, particularly those seeking local positions, to sign a peace covenant.
Meanwhile in Maguindanao, a still undetermined number of assailants armed with high-powered firearms and believed to be members of a partisan armed group, strafed a farming village in the town of Datu Sangki last Monday.
Slain were Kabayan, Zacaria and Neria Kamlon. Two other family members, Mara, 10, and Maik, 13, were wounded.
According to reports, the armed men surrounded the victims’ house in barangay Dimaampo and suddenly went on a shooting spree, triggering pandemonium among residents.The victims were said to be a known supporters of local candidates belonging to the administration party.
Senior Supt. Amerodin Hamdog, Maguindanao police chief, said that they have yet to determine whether the attack was politically motivated, as the Kamlons are also known to be locked in a blood feud with other clans in the area. F. Marasigan, F. Legaspi
By Karl B. Kaufman, Reporter
THE Department of National Defense said on Thursday that at least 19 local candidates in five regions have paid the New People’s Army almost P6 million in “permit-to-campaign” fees. Alarmed by the failure of the authorities to discourage candidates from paying the fees, Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita warned the aspirants that by doing so, they are “abetting rebellion and terrorism” for which they could be held liable.
“We are not looking at these circumstances as seasonal, but as a progression in the strategy of the rebels to gain a foothold in our communities and to boost their logistic capability to pursue their ultimate goal of subverting our democratic processes,” Ermita said.
The Omnibus Election Code bans contributions in the pursuit of fraudulent campaign schemes, and the Revised Penal Code penalizes willing victims of felonies and the nonreporting of crimes.
Ermita said the candidates who pay the fees “would be followed up even during their incumbency to find out what kind of cooperation they are having with the NPA in their areas.”
The NPA is reportedly asking each candidate P50,000 to P500,000, depending on the position he’s running for.
Citing intelligence reports, Ermita said 10 of the 19 candidates are running for mayor, 3 for councilor, 2 for congressman, 2 for governor, 1 for vice mayor and 1 for an undisclosed position.
He declined to give names, saying it would endanger the lives of the candidates.
Ermita said the report has been sent to the Department of the Interior and Local Government for action.
The report shows most of the candidates are from Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas and the Caraga region.
The report, presented to Ermita at a command conference at Camp Aguinaldo on Thursday, also labeled 14 local candidates as NPA supporters.
Military officials had called the fees a form of extortion. They said the NPA has become successful in the racket, because the candidates fail to coordinate security measures with the military in their campaign sorties, particularly in far-flung villages.
During the 2001 election, the NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, raked in P12.5 million in campaign fees. It is expected to step up its efforts to exact the fees after the assets of the party abroad were frozen as a result of the terrorist label pinned on it by the US.
As if to emphasize their point, NPA rebels on Wednesday disarmed police and military escorts of a vice-mayoral candidate in Agusan del Sur who refused to pay the campaign fee.
The five bodyguards of Herminio Reyes, who is running for vice mayor in Loreto town, were subdued by about 25 heavily armed rebels while they were campaigning in Sitio Cabuga, Santa Teresa, the military reported.
Reyes was in a convoy with his entire slate when flagged down by the rebels, led by a certain Commander Jimmy Eyod of the group’s Front Committee-34.
Reyes’s security escort comprised two policemen, two militiamen and one soldier. Three M-16 rifles, one Ingram machine pistol, one 45-caliber pistol and one 12-gauge shotgun owned by Reyes were taken by the rebels.
Col. Leopoldo Maligalig, commanding officer of the 402nd Infantry Brigade, said Reyes and his party were released unharmed.
NPA accepts mobile phones as campaign fee - April 25, 2004
By Karl B. Kaufman, Reporter
The New People’s Army is accepting mobile phones as payment from candidates who want to campaign in NPA-controlled areas, Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita said over the weekend.
Several local candidates have in fact contributed mobile phones to the rebels as a form of campaign fee, Ermita said.
“A few are reported to have given not only money but also cell phones,” Ermita told reporters.
The rebels’ “permit-to-campaign” fees were discussed at length at the command conference of the antiterrorism task force in Camp Aguinaldo on Thursday, over which Ermita presided.
The mobile phones enhance the operational capability of the rebels because they are able to communicate more effectively, he said.
“I thought that this is a matter of concern for the authorities,” he said.
Besides cash and mobile phones, the rebels also demand guns and ammunition from the candidates, Ermita said.
The campaign fees paid by local candidates to the communist rebels in this year’s election have reached P6 million, or half of their campaign collection the in 2001 polls, he said.
The Department of National Defense said at least 19 candidates for local positions have paid campaign fees to the NPA. The aspirants come from Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog, the Bicol region and Eastern Visayas, military intelligence records show.
Ermita warned the candidates that the police and the military would watch them closely “even up to their incumbency to find out what kind of cooperation they have struck with the NPA in their areas.”
He said the candidates, whose names were not released to the media, could face possible criminal charges of aiding insurgents, although he said most maintain they were threatened into cooperating by the rebels.
“Candidates who give in to rebel demands or allow themselves to be backed by insurgents are abetting lawlessness, rebellion and even terrorism,” he said.
The NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, intensified its fundraising efforts this election to make up for lack of funds from sympathizers abroad after Washington put the group on the list of foreign terrorist organizations two years ago.
It is no surprise that the fiercest critics of party-list groups linked to the New People’s Army (NPA) are other left-wing formations that are also seeking representation in Congress. It also comes as no shock that the NPA has been training its guns, and on some instances actually firing them, on their ex-comrades-turned-detractors.
Such groups as Rep. Etta Rosales’s Akbayan are led by former “National Democrats” (NatDems) who in the early 1990s broke away from what they condemned as the dictatorial leadership of Jose Ma. Sison, founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). As erstwhile insiders, they more than anybody else have intimate knowledge of what the CPP and its armed wing, the NPA, are up to and what they are capable of.
The news media frequently credit National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales with exposing the links of such groups as Bayan Muna, Anak Bayan (not to be confused with Akbayan, although confusion was probably a motive of its founders), Anak Pawis, Gabriela, Migrante and Suara Bangsamoro to the CPP-led National Democratic Front (NDF). Not unexpectedly, these groups have resisted any identification with the insurgent underground; it’s strange, however, that whenever Sison issues a pronouncement from Utrecht, it is quickly picked up and echoed by Bayan Muna, Anak Bayan, Anak Pawis, Gabriela, Migrante and Suara Bangsamoro like so many loudspeakers.
And when the leaders of these party-list groups, notably Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo, try to get back at their critics by accusing them of “red baiting,” they only succeed in reinforcing further the widespread suspicion that their groups are indeed communist fronts. In this day and age, nobody but communists use terms like “red baiting.”
While Gonzales has earned media mileage for his exposé, in fact, former NDF members have for several years now been taking their ex-comrades to task for their ideological duplicity and political opportunism.
Although the NDF continues to adhere to the CPP’s Maoist program of “people’s warfare,” other leftists have chosen to pursue their vision of a just and humane society through community organization, socioeconomic and political research, constituency building and election participation. While Sison and his followers insist on carrying out “armed struggle” and all its deadly consequences, their ex-comrades have chosen the path of parliamentary struggle.
In the beginning, the leftists’ estrangement was a civil schism, but it did not take too long for those who remained underground to begin baring their Stalinist fangs. The communists’ response became particularly ferocious when criticism mounted over the NPA’s collection of “permit-to-campaign” (PTC) fees and the exemption the rebels granted to their front organizations.
Without presenting any evidence, the NPA has taken to branding as “military collaborators” its disaffected comrades who have taken up the anti-PTC call. A flyer recently posted on the gate of Rosales, for instance, proclaimed Akbayan as the “partido ng AFP.” Given the insurgents’ bloody reputation, the congresswoman has good reason to fear that she has been targeted for assassination.
Other non-NDF party-list groups have already actually shed blood. Aksyon Sambayanan, also led by ex-NatDems, claims to have recently lost three of its members in Quezon to masked gunmen. That the killers were communist hit men, Aksyon Sambayanan has little doubt.
Professor Joel Rocamora, an official of the non-NDF Institute for Popular Democracy, has asked why the media, which are wont to focus on “right-wing” violence, has not been as ready to call the public’s attention to the communists’ demonstrated capacity for and record of carnage. And he has a point.
For decades, the Philippine media have reported on the communist insurgency with thinly disguised bias. This is may be due to the fact that a good number of journalists who now occupy responsible posts in their respective news organizations had come in their youth under the NatDem spell. Vestigial sympathy for “the movement” remains and has prevented many reporters, opinion writers, analysts and editors, despite reaching middle age, to exercise the kind of objectivity their profession requires.
At the end of the day, the only kind of balance expected of journalists is to make sure political activists don’t fall victim to state or military harassment, but at the same time seeing to it that these same activists do not use the mantle of human rights to harass those who don’t share their ideology.
MANILA, May 10, 2004 (STAR) By Christina Mendez - The Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) has mobilized local cadres and followers to ensure the victory of six leftist party-list groups in today’s elections, a Philippine National Police official reported yesterday.
Senior Superintendent Rodolfo Mendoza, a senior police intelligence officer who has worked in counter-insurgency operations for the past 20 years, said CPP-NPA chairman Jose Ma. Sison has given the marching orders to the members of the local communist movement to use all means to ensure that these party-list groups gain a seat in the House of Representatives.
Mendoza identified the groups being supported by the CPP-NPA as Bayan Muna, Anak ng Bayan, Gabriela Women’s Party, Anak Pawis, Migrante and the Suara Bangsamoro Party.
The PNP and the military have been vocal against the activities of the NPA and regard the insurgents as most potent during elections.
PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Joel Goltiao branded the NPA as extortionists for collecting permit-to-campaign (PTC) fees from local candidates.
Mendoza said the NPA’s plan was revealed after police seized documents detailing this plan from a certain "Ka Andres," an NPA leader belonging to the Palermo Ortañez Command in Pampanga.
A certain Ka Roy of the NPA’s national military staff has issued a directive ordering communist rebels involved with various underground and legal fronts of the communist movement to take part in the polls.
Ka Ares is said to be the vice commanding officer of the NPA’s regional special operations group under the Central Luzon Regional Committee.
He was wounded and arrested by the Pampanga police during an encounter in Barangay Salu in Guagua town while he was officiating the wedding of two NPA rebels.
Tapped to do political legwork for the left-leaning party-list groups were the NPA’s political officers, provincial coordinating committees, mobile propaganda teams, guerrilla units, self-defense teams, local leftist groups and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that serve as fronts for the CPP-NPA, Mendoza said.
The NPA has also been monitoring the movements of Akbayan party-list group led by Etta Rosales. The NPA has accused Rosales of having entered into an alliance with the military.
Besides this, Mendoza said, the NPA has also directed its spy network to include individuals and groups providing electoral funds to Akbayan and other "counter-revolutionary" forces in its offensives.
A BRITISH national who observed Monday’s elections chanced upon a permission-to-campaign (PTC) form issued by the New People’s Army (NPA) in Bohol last Monday.
Simon Brook, a consultant from the United Kingdom, found documents with a receipt for P50,000 from the People’s Revolutionary Government (PRG), through the NPA, to allow the payee to campaign “within the PRG/NPA guerilla territories.”
The receipt, signed by a certain R. De los Santos from the National Democratic Front Philippines (NDFP), has no name of the payee who allegedly paid for the campaign of a certain candidate.
Brook monitored the elections in Bohol with Korean Hyo-Seon Park, while Australian Christopher Scott and Korean Kim Hyo Seon observed the polls in Sogod, Carmen, Catmon and Danao, declared areas of concern in Cebu Province. (Danao was later placed under Comelec control.)
“This is not a peaceful election. We’ve seen demonstrations, alleged cheating and people receiving money,” reported Brook.
While reporting his unofficial findings, in a press conference yesterday morning, he expressed his confusion on the contradictory reports.
The government, he said, reports “an orderly and peaceful elections” while the national dailies reported that Monday’s elections were “the bloodiest in two decades.”
“We’ve seen ballot-buying. We’ve seen PTCs. These are indicators that this is not a generally peaceful and fair election,” Brook added.
Change needed
The British observer also admitted he was “slightly disappointed at the reaction of public officials.”
“It’s very unlikely that things will change in a very short time. There’s no motivation,” he said. Brook, with his three other companions, are members of the International Observers Mission, a seven-day monitoring mission composed of 16 persons deployed in various parts of the country.
The mission was tasked to observe the conduct of Philippine elections and to reinforce local monitoring of the Compact for Peaceful Elections commitments.
The Compact for Peaceful Elections is a national initiative of civil society and church-based groups launched in February this year.
The Akbayan-initiated compact was signed by all the presidential candidates, the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan and Kugi Uswag Sugbo parties and gubernatorial candidates Celestino Martinez Jr. and John Gregory Osmeña.
Assistance
Cathy Ruiz of Akbayan reported that their team was asked to look into the Daanbantayan incident.
A campaign worker was shot to death last Monday in Daanbantayan, adding to the 21 new deaths in election-related violence and bringing the death toll to at least 114 since the beginning of the campaign three months ago.
“We would like to coordinate closely with the PNP and look fully into this case,” said Ruiz.
“We would like to see what we can do to help the family of the victim,” Ruiz added, saying the compact organizers may extend legal assistance.
However, she stressed that they will “not be used as a tool by any party.”
A national press conference will be held in Manila on May 14 to report the observations of all the 16 foreign observers.
By JAIME ESPINA TODAY Reporter
BACOLOD CITY - A Revolutionary Proletarian Army (RPA) “tax collector” admitted taking monthly collections from at least 21 sugarcane plantations in Silay City, but said commanders of the rogue rebel group had never made an accounting of what they did with the money.
At the same time, Rizaldy Flores, 20, of barangay Guimbalaon, said the two RPA commanders responsible for Silay had quarrelled over which mayoral bet to support in the May 10 elections—incumbent Mayor Carlo Gamban or his estranged cousin and predecessor Edwin Velez—after receiving money from both candidates.
Flores was “captured” along with a friend, Richan Roldan, 24, also of Guimbalaon, by New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas on May 4 on their way back from collecting money from Hacienda Paquit in Silay.
In an interview in an NPA encampment where they were being held, the RPA member said he had hitched a ride home on Roldan’s motorcycle but had asked his friend to pass by the sugarcane plantation first so he could collect the P500 the hacienda management gave them monthly.
They were blocked by an NPA unit as they headed back from Paquit.
Ka Carl, spokesman for the NPA unit holding the two, said they had seized a .38-caliber pistol, a cellular phone and “extortion money” from Flores. Ka Carl said that, “since the RPA surrendered to the government [through a peace agreement with the Estrada administration], they have lost the legitimate right to collect taxes. So what they are doing now is plain extortion.”
NPA sources said Flores and Roldan were released shortly after the interview and were expected to have left Negros shortly, as they had indicated they would do during the interview.
Earlier, Ka Carl had indicated that, despite earlier statements that Flores may have to be tried before a “people’s court, it might not be necessary because, as far as we know, many of the RPA rank and file are innocents who were only tricked or cajoled into joining.”
Flores, in particular, said he strongly believed his superiors in the RPA would get back at him for the information he divulged to the NPA during his captivity. But even Roldan said he, too, was afraid of RPA retaliation, even if he was a civilian, “because they would suspect me of informing on them.”
During his interrogation by his captors, a taped record of which was made available to Today, Flores also confirmed that the 12-man RPA unit he belonged to had an assigned “handler,” an officer he identified only as “Yam-o,” from the police Regional Mobile Group.
This bolstered accusations by the NPA and other quarters that the RPA has become another government militia. Handlers are allegedly enlisted military or police personnel assigned to command the Citizens’ Armed Forces Geographic Units.
However, Flores said Silay RPA commander Ka Maitan and Yam-o were not on good terms because the police “seldom coordinate with us when they enter our area,” a common complaint that has also riled other police units who feel the RPA are accorded a better status than they.
According to Flores, who had been an RPA member for around a year, he was recruited by Ka Maitan and, “although I really had no intention of joining, I was eventually convinced because they would pass by our place often and take me with them.”
Flores, who was in third year high school, quit to become a member of the 12-man RPA unit in Silay. After three months as a “combatant,” he said he was relegated to “collector” and errand boy of Maitan.
Flores said the money he collected monthly was remitted to Maitan and given out “as personal allowances and support for the families of married RPA members.”
When asked if he was aware that, under a peace agreement between the RPA and government, the breakaway rebel group was supposed to receive substantial funds for livelihood and other projects, Flores, who claimed to have been given charge of finances for Silay, said: “We in the rank and file do not know if any funds have come from government. I really do not understand much; I do not know exactly why the collection is needed, only that it is for our personal expenses.”
Flores also admitted that “I really do not know much about what we are and what we stand for.” The only education he recalls receiving “was about discipline but my companions are actually very rowdy and abusive, especially when drinking.”
He also said he had been told that the NPA were “terrorists.” Thus, when he and Roldan were captured, “I really believed it was the end for us, that we would be tortured and then killed. “But now that I am in their hands, I realize this is not true,” he said. “We eat what they eat, they tend to our needs, we sleep well. In fact, it is they who cannot sleep guarding us. We are very thankful they have not harmed us.”
Flores said he had no plans of revenge on the NPA or their mass supporters even as he apologized to his RPA comrades for having been captured. Nevertheless, he added, “I am not going back to them. I want to start a new life.”
Even before his capture by the NPA, Flores said he had already harbored plans of leaving the RPA. In fact, he had told Roldan that the Paquit collection was to have been his “last.” He said he was being pressured by his parents and fiancee to leave the rogue rebel group.
But, he added, he also had deep misgivings, particularly reports of abusive commanders. He acknowledged one incident in Talisay City last year when Maitan had reportedly fired his weapon after losing in a cockfight. Flores said he heard that Maitan had lost about P20,000.
He also cited what he called RPA national commander Stephen Paduano’s penchant for disowning RPA members who run into trouble.
While acknowledging the capture of Flores could lead to more and bloodier clashes between the rival guerrilla groups, Ka Carl said, “We have always expected this to happen since, from their surrender, the RPA has always made us part of their target and joined the military in hunting us down.”
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