BAGUIO --- Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) spokesman Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal belittled Wednesday the order of President Arroyo for military and police to stop rebels from imposing permit-to-campaign (PTC) fees from politicians.
"In reality, Arroyo and her military and police have no effective way of halting the collection of election campaign fees in widespread areas effectively controlled by the NPA (New People's Army)," said Rosal.
For decades now, the CPP, through its armed-wing NPA, has been collecting money from politicians who wish to conduct campaign sorties in NPA-identified territories.
Many politicians, including President Arroyo's allies, are paying for safe conduct passes to campaign in certain areas of the country ahead of elections in May, Rosal claimed.
The military this week said the CPP-NPA is expected to amass more than P2-billion from PTC fees collection.
Rosal added that candidates pay campaign fees as "a sign of recognition of the political authority of the people's democratic government in revolutionary areas."
He also revealed that most of Arroyo's partymates and political allies, who are running for local and national positions, have already submitted applications for PTCs.
Candidates are allowed to enter and campaign in NPA-identified stronghold areas only if they are able to present PTCs issued by revolutionary authorities.
"Arroyo cannot deny by decree the existence of the political authority of the people's revolutionary forces," Rosal said. "It exists by virtue of the people's organized revolutionary armed strength and mass movement."
Rosal claimed PTCs are required to ensure the security of revolutionary areas and the orderly conduct of political campaigns in those areas.
He also said politicians entering and campaigning in revolutionary areas are prohibited from bringing weapons and armed groups.
Rosal also said collections from PTC fees are used to fund the operations of the people's democratic government as well as important socio-economic activities of the masses under the jurisdiction of the revolutionary government, including cooperatives and projects to enhance agricultural production, as well as medical, education and literacy campaigns.
The government says the "permit to campaign" fees charged NPA guerrillas are simply extortion. It has vowed to crack down on the practice.
Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita said last week the NPA was stepping up its extortion "to make up for lost contributions coming from abroad" after the United States declared the group a "foreign terrorist organization."
The US, European Union, Australia and Canada have also pledged to freeze the NPA's assets, he said.
Ermita said the NPA had ordered candidates contesting for seats in Congress to pay them half a million pesos if they campaigned in their areas of influence. Gubernatorial bets have been asked to pay 300,000 pesos and mayoral candidates 50,000 pesos.
In the past, candidates without rebel passes have been ambushed.
CAMP AQUINO, Tarlac - A ranking military official here virtually admitted that authorities are practically incapable to stop the communist New People’s Army (NPA)’s collection of “revolutionary taxes” from businessmen, and the imposition of “permit-to-campaign fees” on candidates.
“This is a sophisticated process,” said Lt. Gen. Romeo Dominguez, commanding officer of the Armed Forces’ Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom), when asked by reporters here how he plans to implement in Central and Northern Luzon President Arroyo’s order for soldiers to end the “taxation” and other forms of extortion by the NPA.
He said that as “it takes two to tango,” the only way to apprehend rebels involved in the implementation of the “revolutionary taxation” by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its political wing, the National Democratic Front (NDF), is for the candidates in the 2004 elections and businessmen to “cooperate” with the police and military authorities.
Earlier reports have it that the communist movement is expected to raise more than a billion pesos out of money extorted from candidates who would secure permits to campaign in rebel strongholds.
On December 4 CPP spokesman Gregorio “Ka Roger” Rosal said that “reactionary politicos and political parties, including their party-list allies, who desire to enter and campaign in CPP-NPA-NDF-governed areas, have to secure official permits and pay the necessary fees to do so.”
The rebel spokesman insisted that anybody who “wants to enter the territories of the CPP-NPA-NDF and its revolutionary government are obliged to follow revolutionary laws, including the payment of the necessary fees and taxes.”
Dominguez, however, described such policy of the rebels as a “manifestation of terrorism,” although he said that the imposition of “taxes” and campaign fees on candidates, were “nothing new, nothing special, but plain extortion.”
He said that the only way to prevent the guerrillas from imposing fees on candidates is for politicians to have it reported to authorities because extortion is a criminal offense.
For arrests to be made, the rebels should be caught “red-handed.”
But Dominguez lamented that the advent of technology has put the police and military in a disadvantageous position in fighting the rebels’ fundraising activities.
He said the intelligence community has discovered that most payments for “revolutionary taxes” and “permit-to-campaign fees” are now being made through automated teller machines.
He added that the communists are not only using the Internet to further their propaganda activities, as the CPP-NPA-NDF now also undertakes financial transaction over cyberspace in credit- card payments and bank-to-bank money transfers.
He stressed that the military and the police can guarantee the safety of candidates who would report such rebel activities to authorities.