Reds extort P1.3-M in revolutionary taxes a month from fishpond owners

CAMP AQUINO, Tarlac — The military here said communist guerrillas raise as much as P1.3 million per month in "revolutionary taxes" from fishpond owners in Pampanga.

According to Lt. Col. Herbert Yambing, commanding officer of the Army’s 69th Infantry Battalion, residents and fishpond owners in Sasmuan, a coastal town in Pampanga, are now telling on the New People Army’s (NPA) alleged extortion activities after the military inflicted heavy casualties on the rebels over the weekend.

Fishpond owners in Sasmuan grow prawns and crabs that are exported to other countries.

Yambing disclosed that NPA guerrilla fighters from Pampanga and Bataan normally go to Sasmuan to collect the money.

He added that there have been incidents in the past when rebels from neighboring Bulacan and from as far as Cavite also go to Sasmuan to collect "revolutionary taxes" during the harvest season.

Yambing said NPA guerrillas from Southern Luzon reach Pampanga’s coastal towns via Manila Bay.

This was, however, vehemently denied by Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) spokesman Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal in a statement released Monday,

Communist guerrillas had pointed out earlier that revolutionary taxation is not extortion as claimed by the military.

Maj. Gen. Romeo Dominguez, commanding officer of the Armed Forces Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom), also claimed that most of the marijuana plantations being discovered by government forces are located in areas where "heavy presence" of NPA guerrillas are detected. These plantations, he said, are mostly in Northern Luzon provinces, although he refused to give details while operations are ongoing.

Last year, some P56.7 million worth of marijuana plants were torched by government troopers in a plantation in Bakun, Benguet , which was suspected to have been maintained by Benguet NPA guerrillas.