NOT a single candidate seeking for an elective post in Compostela Valley has been monitored by the military to have paid permit to campaign (PTC) imposed by the New People's Army rebels, an army official said.
Colonel Angelito de Leon of the Philippine Army's 1001st Brigade clarified though that their intelligence monitoring is not 100 percent certain, thus it is highly possible still that some are paying PTCs to the NPA considering that there are areas considered as highly-influenced by the communist guerrillas.
De Leon said that what they have confirmed though is that there were several attempts by the rebel group to exact PTC from politicians, but none of them gave in to the NPA demand.
He said the NPA usually asks P50,000 from each politician as PTC fee.
A top Army commander in the Visayas, however, admitted that several candidates in his area of responsibility are paying PTC to the rebels.
AFP's 3rd Infantry Division commander Major General Jose Mabanta claimed to have a "complete data" on politicians paying PTCs but refused to divulge the identities of the candidates.
He said they are planning to file charges against these candidates but admitted that it would be very difficult to prove the same in the courts.
"We will have to file charges, 'di ba, but it's really very hard to build legal charges or build cases against yung nagbibigay sa PTC, kasi ang daming affidavits, sworn statements," Mabanta was quoted as saying.
The general said the PTC fee is from as low as P50,000 to as high as P5 million.
The NPA is reportedly raking in money due to the PTC this election. Aside from the PTC, the rebel group is also earning from the revolutionary taxes they impose in businesses operating in their turf.
Most of the victims here are constructions firms and telecommunications company.
No less than former AFP chief of staff Gen. Delfin Bangit revealed several years back that they have seized documents in Luzon that showed Smart Telecoms paying the NPA revolutionary tax.
Bangit said the documents were seized from three NPA members who were arrested by authorities in Quezon Province. It has long been rumored that Smart is paying revolutionary taxes to the rebels considering that no Smart cell sites was destroyed by the rebels, only towers owned by Globe Telecoms.
Smart Telecoms had repeatedly denied it is giving in to what the military had described as "extortion activities" of communist rebels.
The military said the communist rebel group have earned at least P2 billion in "revolutionary taxes" from businesses across the country since 1998.
In resource-rich Davao area, numerous bandit groups have reportedly established guerrilla fronts to share the enormous sum collected from gold mines and large farms.