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Sunday, April 11, 2004
Rebel's revolutionary tax receipt leads to mayor
By Elias O. Baquero
CEBU -- A mayor and two private contractors are supporting the Communist New People's Army (NPA) in northern Cebu by agreeing to pay "revolutionary taxes," an Armed Forces official said Saturday.
But while the contractors only paid out of fear, the mayor has forged an alliance with "rebel groups" to ensure victory during the elections, he added.
Maj. Melquiades Feliciano, commander of the Civil Relations Group 7, said he included this report in his intelligence brief to the National Intelligence and Coordinating Agency (NICA), first submitted last July 4, 2003.
That intelligence report was updated last month, but "95 percent" of its contents still hold true, Feliciano said.
Part of the proof are receipts in the mayor's name, which were recovered from an NPA fighter killed during an encounter in Sitio Mang-aljo, Barangay Ipil, Carmen last June.
"Whatever their motives, it is not proper for public officials to take the side of rebel groups," said Feliciano in his report.
"If public officials (like this mayor) dominate our society, it will be impossible for our government troops to solve the insurgency."
Sun.Star is withholding the names of the mayor and the two contractors until they are reached for comment on the military's report.
According to Feliciano, the 3rd Civil Relations Group (CRG) at Central Command, based in Lahug, Cebu City, initiated a project called "Gold Rust 7."
They tapped organizers who were former Communist Party of the Philippines members, to convince comrades to return to the fold of the law.
In the course of their work, the CRG discovered that the CPA-NPA and the National Democratic Front (NDF) expanded its organizations to northern Cebu with the support of some politicians.
At first, the CPP-NPA concentrated in the mid-north, composed of the municipalities of Compostela, Carmen, Catmon, Sogod, Borbon, Tabuelan, Tuburan, Asturias and Balamban and Danao City.
But Gold Rust 7 organizers found out that the CPP-NPA Front 2 Committee has penetrated the towns of Tabogon, Bogo, San Remigio, Medellin and Daanbantayan. That committee is under the Vicente Padayao Command, under Ronald "Ka Aram" Sendrijas.
Further proof of the CPP-NPA's presence in Bogo and Daanbantayan were the burning of D' Rough Riders buses after its owner reportedly refused to pay revolutionary taxes, the military said.
Recently, Mayors Maria Luisa Loot of Daanbantayan, Thaddeus Durano of Sogod and Ramon "Nito" Durano III of Danao said they favored Comelec control in northern Cebu.
However, Comelec 7 Legal Officer Marshall Rubia said there is no petition to that effect from any interested party.
Apart from intense rivalry and a history of election-related violence, the presence of armed insurgents is one ground for declaring an area a hotspot and for placing it under Comelec control.
(April 11, 2004 issue)
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