NPA living up to terror tag — Gonzales

The New People’s Army (NPA) is living up to its "notorious image as a bandit and terrorist group" engaged in extortion, robbery and other criminal acts, President Arroyo‘s national security adviser said yesterday.

National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales said the continued bombings of infrastructure, like telecommunications and power towers, as well as the killing of civilian leaders justified the "foreign terrorist organization" tag placed on the CPP-NPA by the United States and the European Union.

Gonzales, who heads the Partido Demokratiko Sosyalista ng Pilipinas (PDSP), said the reports were validated by documents seized by the military in raids of rebel camps that showed the NPA will demand three to 10 percent of a candidate’s campaign fund in exchange for a permit to campaign in rebel-held areas next year.

"Intelligence reports that the CPP-NPA plans to exact higher permit-to-campaign fees from candidates in next year’s midterm elections prove that the rebel group is not a revolutionary movement as it claims to be but a big-time extortion gang that operates nationwide," he said.

Catholic priests Fr. Romeo Intengan, PDSP chief ideologue, said while the NPA claims to be the protector of the people, it has blocked progress in the countryside by discouraging investments because of its frequent attacks on companies and businesses that refuse to pay so-called revolutionary taxes.

"While the people are becoming more aware of the atrocities committed by NPA rebels, there is a need to educate the public about the multiple characteristics of the rebel group," he said.

"The people are waking up and realizing that the extreme Left has committed and continues to commit atrocities — the Plaza Miranda bombing, the paranoid purging of thousands of its cadres, and its persistent and widespread killing of noncombatants including those belonging to rival political organizations and government officials.

"The NPA has become a destroyer of infrastructure and other public facilities, a collaborator profiting from organized crimes such as narco-trafficking, illegal logging and illegal gambling, and a mercenary force that hires itself to landlords and traditional politicians."