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Thursday, August 28, 2003
NPA tax system better than BIR's: TFD chief
By Ben O. Tesiorna and Gwen P. Posadas
THE tax collection efficiency of the New People's Army (NPA) is more effective than that of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), official said.
Col. Gaudencio Pangilinan, Task Force Davao (TFD) chief told Sun.Star Wednesday.
Pangilinan said communist rebels demand a 50 percent downpayment of its revolutionary taxes from business establishments while the remaining 50 percent is payable in installment.
He said big businesses are not the only ones subjected to tax, but also students in the countryside.
"NPA members collect taxes from loggers by the board feet, from land and pond owners by the hectare and even the students are not spared," Pangilinan said.
Ka Oris, of the NPA's Merardo Arce Command, also said their revolutionary tax is better than that of the government since their revenue goes back for the benefit of the Filipino people.
He said 70 percent of BIR's revenue goes to the pockets of unscrupulous public officials with the remaining 30 percent for the Filipino people.
Ka Oris made the statement during a radio interview Wednesday morning over dxAB.
Pangilinan, however, denied the claim saying that 70 percent of the revolutionary taxes goes directly to the NPA's central committee for expenses of their officials.
He said the people should not be duped in paying revolutionary taxes to the communist rebels.
Pangilinan said they are urging big businessmen coerced by the communist rebels recently not to pay any revolutionary tax. Most of them have been threatened with sanctions by the rebels.
Counter measures
Pangilinan said some members of the business sector vowed to counter the extortion activities.
He said some of the traders are even willing to give five percent of their profit for the establishment of a security group that would counter NPA's extortion activities.
He told local businessmen that the move is unnecessary since all they need is the cooperation from all sectors that would lead to the arrest of the extortionists.
Superficial
Pangilinan described the imposition of revolutionary taxes as superficial.
He said some business groups and other sectors prefer to give five percent of their taxes to their respective city government and provincial offices, rather than giving the amount to the communist rebels.
"Most of them (business sector) prefer to give their taxes for the purpose of putting up a Civilina Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu) company," Pangilinan said.
He said businessmen in the city would rather buy firearms to protect their business entities.
He said there is a big probability that the NPA did not critically perfect their plans before releasing it to the public.
"Mukhang hindi ni pinag-isipang mabuti (imposing of revolutionary taxes). Wala na silang nakuhang mabuting intelligence agent para pag-aralan ang kanilang plano. Superficial lang masyado (NPA's revolutionary plan)," Pangilinan said.
Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte earlier said he plans to talk with the communists on revolutionary taxation.
Serra, on the other hand, branded the NPA's collection of revolutionary taxes as an economic sabotage since it will greatly affect the disposition of the big businessmen especially on their expansion projects in the countryside. BOTGPP
(August 28, 2003 issue)
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