Reds ‘soliciting’ funds in Tarlac for CPP anniversary

TARLAC CITY — Communist rebels call it "revolutionary solicitation," but police authorities tag it as "extortion."

It is not only Christmas revelers who are soliciting financial and material assistance this season, for guerrillas of the New People’s Army (NPA) have also been making the rounds of this province asking for similar assistance.

Proof of this is in the hands of police authorities, as they "intercepted" a "revolutionary solicitation letter" that bears the NPA logo, with the heading "Mayo Santiago Command," which is the rebels’ guerrilla command in this province, named after an insurgent slain by government troops in Barangay San Isidro here in the late 1980s.

But the NPA’s solicitation letter is not in any way in tune with the spirit of Christmas, but the 32nd founding anniversary of the mainstream Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) on Dec. 26.

The NPA letter claimed that the CPP is at the frontline of the nationwide anti-Estrada protests.

The rebels claimed that the CPP has effectively led local farmers’ struggle to gain "concrete benefits" such as their fight against rampant land-grabbing, particularly in Gov. Jose Yap’s upland hometown of San Jose, the increase in wages of farmworkers, the lowering of loan interests by rural usurers and the increase in production of agricultural communities.

The NPA also cited the supposed role of the CPP at Hacienda Luisita, owned by the family of former President Corazon Aquino, especially with regards the workers’ demand for salary increases and massive union organizing.

The NPA ends its solicitation letter by stating, "Kami ay lumalapit sa inyo upang humingi ng suportang pinansiyal at materyal para sa pagpapalakas ng rebolusyonaryong kilusan sa lalawigan at para sa mga kasamang martir na nagbuwis ng buhay para sa bayan (We are asking for your financial and material support for the strengthening of the revolutionary movement in the province and for our martyred comrades who gave up their lives for our country)."

The police believe that the celebration of the CPP’s founding anniversary will be held somewhere in Yap’s upland hometown, which is just within the Tarlac-Zambales mountain boundary.

It will be attended by "underground activists" belonging to outlawed organizations Kabataang Makabayan (KM), Katipunan ng mga Gurong Makabayan (Kaguma), Makabayang Samahang Pangkalusugan (Masapa), Malayang Kilusan ng Bagong Kababaihan (Makibaka), Christians for National Liberation (CNL), Lupon ng mga Manananggol ng Bayan (Lumaban), Pambansang Katipunan ng mga Magbubukid (PKM), Revolutionary Council of Trade Unions ( RCTU) and the National Democratic Front (NDF).

The CPP was founded by about 10 student activists from Manila, led by self-exiled communist leader Jose Ma. Sison, in Pangasinan in 1968.

On March 29, 1969, Sison and his co-founders came to Tarlac to establish the NPA with the help of former rebel commander Bernabe "Ka Dante" Buscayno.

Police authorities said the rebels rake in about P3 million in "revolutionary taxes" a month from their extortion activities in the province.