Communist rebels eye P144-M poll revenue

COMMUNIST rebels in Western Visayas are eyeing to generate at least P144 million through their permit to campaign (PTC) and permit to win (PTW) scheme for political candidates, a military official said.

Reports submitted by analysts to the Philippine Army 3rd Infantry Division said that for the position of governor, the New People's Army (NPA) charges P2 million for each of the 14 candidates in Western Visayas, for a total of P28 million.

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For vice governor, P2 million is being charged for each of the 25 candidates, while P2 million for each of 28 congressional bets and P20,000 for each of the 46 provincial board member aspirants.

For mayor, the NPA charges P20,000 for each of the 82 candidates, P15,000 for each of the 83 vice mayoral bets, and P10,000 for each of 614 councilor aspirants, said 3rd ID spokesman Lieutenant Mark Posadas.

He said that if all 892 candidates of Western Visayas paid the NPA's extortion demands, the NPA will have a net of P144 million. "That is the maximum collectible amount if all of our candidates paid the minimum PTC for the position they are running for in 2010 elections."

“This is a very grim scenario indeed. Even if only half of our 892 candidates actually paid the NPA’s PTC, that would still mean that the NPA would still receive about P17 million in extortion money from our politicians,” said Major General Vicente Porto in response to the report.

He said that amount of money could be used to buy votes or could be used for other nefarious purposes.

The military also said that payments have to be in P100 or P1,000, while small bills, checks, and real properties are not accepted.

The target may substitute monetary payment with a computer or high-powered firearm, cell phones, medicines, and equipment, among others.

For long-term targets, renegotiations are conducted again after a year, and an annual increase is imposed, the report added.

Collected fees are immediately remitted to the NPA’s higher organ where 80 percent of it is forwarded to the NPA’s National Finance Committee (NFC), while the remaining 20 percent is retained by the lower organs.

Highest collecting rate for 2009 came from the business establishments with P42.2 million followed by logging concessionaires with P28.7 million.

As its policy, the NPA metes out punishment to those who refuse to pay and to those who renege on their payments, the military said.

Maricris Payongayong, a former rebel and political cadre of the NPA, said: “The so called ‘permit to campaign’ and ‘permit to win’ scheme of the CPP-NPA-NDF go beyond being a money-making scheme for the Maoists and their armed group. This tarnishes the integrity of the whole electoral process, which is a major expression of democracy in our beloved country.”

Porto said the 3rd ID is thankful “that most of our local candidates are cooperating with security forces to curtail the prevalence of the NPA’s extortion activities in Panay and in Negros."

He said the military is endeavoring for honest, orderly, peaceful, and credible elections, and they will continue to keep a watchful eye so that the NPA will not succeed in disrupting the electoral process.