Gov. Marañon: 'Insurgency is big business'

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. said insurgency has become a big business, as he urged the supporters of New People's Army (NPA) not to support this group anymore.

The governor said most of the NPA rebels are in for the money and only a few of them are in it for the ideology. "This is a big business especially during election time. They are collecting revolutionary taxes from politicians, small farmers and those from the hinterlands," he said.

Marañon reiterated his call to the rebels to return to the fold of the government: "Let's help one another because our enemy is poverty and not each other."

Meanwhile, the military and the police are now ready for the 45th anniversary celebration of the NPA on March 29, said Marañon.

Colonel Jon Aying, commander of the 303rd Infantry Brigade, said the soldiers are now on alert on this event. "We will be extra cautious on that day. We have monitored movements and sightings of rebels in the province," he said.

Aying said his command has been monitoring reports about the NPA's plans of attacks of detachments and ambushes of government forces as its way of marking its anniversary.