Drilon: NPA extorting campaign fees from local bets

SURIGAO CITY, Philippines - Leftist insurgents have started collecting so-called “permit to campaign fees” from local candidates, an administration party official said yesterday.

Sen. Franklin Drilon, vice chairman of the Liberal Party (LP) and campaign manager of Team PNoy, said administration bets in the Caraga region have reported extortion activities, the amount higher compared to previous elections.

“Mayors are being asked to contribute anywhere from P800,000 to P1 million,” Drilon told reporters here.

Drilon said campaign permits could mean protection from harassment when candidates barnstorm communist-infested areas.

Failure to pay permit to campaign fees, on the other hand, could result in the burning of campaign paraphernalia, harassment of a candidate’s supporters and disruption of rallies.

Drilon said he would bring up the matter with the Commission on Elections and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

“They are approaching our allies and everyone else. This is serious and has to stop,” he said. “We are supposed to have a free, honest election and this practice is, in effect, extorting money, extortion from local officials.”

Instead of extortion, Drilon called on communist rebels to go mainstream as did their allies from Bayan Muna and Makabayan party-list groups.

“I challenge the NDF (National Democratic Front) to participate in the electoral process rather than engage in the practice of exacting permit to campaign fees from our candidates,” Drilon said. “And to our candidates, do not give in to their demands. This has to stop. We condemn this practice.”

Meanwhile, former senator Ramon Magsaysay Jr. said the government would exhaust all efforts to achieve lasting peace in the country.

“Team PNoy supports all efforts at ending the conflict in Mindanao. That is why the President needs a majority in the Senate, to ensure the success of the peace negotiations with the MILF, as well as with the CPP-NPA-NDF,” Magsaysay said.

Team PNoy candidates Paolo Benigno Aquino IV, former senator Ma. Ana Consuelo Madrigal and Magsaysay campaigned here yesterday.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III was represented by his sister Gwen; Grace Poe-Llamanzares by her son Brian; former Akbayan representative Risa Hontiveros by her nephew Luis Hontiveros; and Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara by his mother Gloria.