Insurgents, peace talks and revolutionary taxes

BEHIND THE SCENES

Alfred P. Dizon

It is amusing when some officials of local government units and the military declare their areas “insurgency-free” when it is obvious there are New People’s Army guerrillas in their turf.

They say development would be stunted if investors are afraid to go in their turf.

It is not surprising if after a while, the NPA ambushes some government troopers or police in the province negating the claim like what happened in Kalinga a while back.

Ilocos Sur may soon be declared "rebel-free" with the adoption of a measure by the provincial council, according to Lt. Col. Desiderio Alaba, commander of the Philippine Army's 81st Infantry Battalion, even as NPA guerrillas are often spotted in boundaries of Ilocos Sur, Mountain Province and Abra. 

Alaba said the measure adopted by the Provincial Peace and Order Council and recommended by the Philippine Army declares that “the province has been freed from insurgency with the eradication of the NPA.”

Alaba said the measure is just awaiting approval of the provincial board .Ilocos Sur Gov.Luis “Chavit” Singson, PPOC chair said the declaration would invite more investments and tourists into the province.

                            ***

Alaba claimed the NPA has ceased to exist in Ilocos Sur as shown by the recent surrender of its key leaders.He said the PPOC, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police and local government units will sustain their anti-insurgency campaign despite the declaration.

If there are no more NPAs in Ilocos Sur, pundits are saying, why are they still conducting anti-insurgency campaign?

According to Alaba, “The local government will now be in the frontline in protecting communities from insurgency. Our armed forces will only provide support.”

                        ***

Whether the government admits it or not, there are parts of this country which are controlled by the NPA, despite these being declared “insurgency free.”

Army officials have admitted themselves that candidates in the May elections are paying between P100,000 and P5 million to buy protection from the NPA in areas which they control.

Maj. Gen. Jose Mabanta, commander of the Philippine Army’s 3rd Division, said candidates believe that giving in to the rebels’ demands would spare them from harassment.

“My estimate is that half of all political contenders in my area (Western Visayas) are paying. That is also true in other areas (of the country),” he said, although in northern Luzon, no reports of politicians paying such fees to the NPA had been bared.

According to the military, fees demanded by the NPA depend on the post eyed by the candidates. The military calls the fees “extortion money” while the NPA calls these “revolutionary taxes.”

Call it semantics but definition of terms by both parties is causing confusion such that peace talks between the NPA and government has been stalled.

The government is accusing the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPAof reneging on earlier agreements like “no preconditions” for peace talks to prosper.

But the latter is saying “preconditions” like release of political consultants of the CPP-NPA were agreed upon between the two parties which the government doesn’t want to do.

                        ***       

Anyway, some 18,000 posts are up for grabs in the May 13 elections, including town and city mayors, provincial governors and members of Congress.

With the amounts involved, theNPA will be buying arms and ammunition and these may be fired and used against politicians, according to the military.

Military officials have warned those who will provide financial help to insurgents may face criminal charges as their decision to give in will have legal repercussions.

The protection money raised, according to the military, dwarfs the amounts regularly paid by mining, logging and other businesses based in rural areas where the 4,000-member guerrilla force operates.

The military claims the insurgents have “extorted” more than P25 million from businesses and individuals last year andhas been issuing campaign permits in exchange for cash.

                         ***

Two weeks ago, NPA members ambushed the convoy of Ruth Guingona, the 78-year-old mayor of Gingoog City in Mindanao, killing two of her aides.

Officials have condemned the attack, calling it a violation of human rights. Security forces believe the rebels behind the ambush were just making their presence felt to pressure politicians to comply with their extortion demands.

The CPP has expressed regret for the incident but claimed that the first shots came from Guingona’s aides.Meanwhile, the Army said it will assess the strength of the NPA in the wake of successive attacks staged by the rebels recently against civilians and soldiers.

Brig. Gen. Ricardo Visaya, officer-in-charge of the Army’s 4th division, said the assessment would include the identification of the rebels’ “centers of gravities.”

Visaya said they would employ combat operations, civil-military operations and intelligence gathering to curb insurgency in their area.  

                        ***                   

Meanwhile, the government’s chief peace negotiator with communist rebels has apparently given up hope on resuming the peace talks, saying negotiations are “going nowhere.”

In a report posted on GMA-7 online news, government chief peace negotiator Alexander Padilla was quoted as saying the government “no longer wants to return to formal negotiations” with the Communist Party of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front (CPP/NDF), owing to the “impossible conditions” set by the communists before negotiations could resume.

According to the report, Padilla’s article was posted on the website of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), which is headed by Secretary Teresita Deles.

The OPAPP article reported there has been a 22-month impasse in the negotiations.Padilla said though they are still open to a renewal of talks but under a different framework.“We need to see sincerity and political will on their part... and an end to the senseless violence they are inflicting on our people, especially on innocent civilians,” Padilla was quoted as saying.

               ***

Padilla earlier revealed the Aquino administration’s “new approach” to peacefully resolve the armed conflict with the communist rebels and break the 22-month-old stalemate on the peace negotiations.

Padilla said while the government had always been open to resume formal negotiations with the rebels, “they keep insisting on preconditions, such as the release of their detained consultants.”

“The ball is now in their hands. They were the ones who initiated the special track and they were the ones who ended it. The government doesn’t want to return to the regular track (formal talks) because it has been going nowhere for the last 27 years,” he said.

“Even discussions under the special track have been closed since they have come up with new demands, he added.

CPP founder Jose Ma. Sisonearlier proposed a “special track” to speed up the negotiations through an agreement on a Draft Declaration on National Unity and Just Peace that would lead to an immediate ceasefire and creation of a Committee for National Unity, Peace and Development.”