Politicians told not to pay NPA campaign fees

CAUAYAN CITY, Isabela — Candidates will be charged in court if they pay so-called permit-to-campaign fees to the New People’s Army (NPA), President Arroyo said yesterday.

Speaking over radio stations dwDY in Cauayan City, dwSI in Santiago City, and dzTG in Tuguegarao City, Mrs. Arroyo said politicians must report immediately to police attempts by the rebels to collect "fees" from them whenever they go on sorties to NPA-controlled areas.

"Our police and military authorities in your area have been closely monitoring activities of the rebels which tend to give problems to local candidates," she said. "Local politicians are also in the police’s watchlist."

Cagayan Valley police commander Senior Superintendent Jefferson Soriano said the NPA has threatened to kill candidates in the May 10 elections if they fail to pay "fees" for the "privilege" of campaigning in areas under rebel control.

Dimming any hope of a ceasefire with the NPA as the government tries to negotiate a peace settlement with the rebels, the military is intensifying operations to prevent the NPA from harassing and extorting money from political candidates in line with a directive from Mrs. Arroyo. Checkpoints are also being set up across the country to prevent violence from marring the May 10 elections.

"Unhampered and aggressive military operations against the NPA will reduce if not prevent the NPA from exacting financial resources from candidates, prevent the NPA from coercing the populace and... from pursuing terrorism against the people," military spokesman Lt. Col. Daniel Lucero said.

Past experience showed that ceasefires did not stop the NPA from extorting money or so-called "revolutionary taxes" from businesses or attacking military and civilian targets, Lucero said.

Mrs. Arroyo has ordered the Philippine National Police and the military to step up measures to keep out trouble in the run-up to the May 10 polls.

The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines. The CPP, which has been waging an insurgency for the past 30 years, is considered a terrorist organization along with the NPA by the United States.

Every election, the rebels extort money from local politicians in exchange for safe passage or permission to campaign in certain areas where they have a presence.

Checkpoints have been ordered set up to prevent rebel movement as well violence among rival politicians, many of whom employ bodyguards, Lucero said.

Strife-torn Mindanao will be the focus of military operations, Lucero said, particularly the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

The secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front operates in most of these provinces while Basilan and Sulu are strongholds of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf Islamic kidnap gang.

The MILF has been fighting for an independent Islamic state for decades while the Abu Sayyaf is notorious for kidnapping foreigners and terrorist attacks.

Last week, opposition front-runner Fernando Poe Jr. skipped the southern city of Marawi during a campaign sortie in the area because of intense political rivalry there. — Lito Salatan, Jaime Laude, Marichu Villanueva, Paolo Romero, Ramil Bajo, Delon Porcalla