Army readying rebellion raps vs 2 Luzon mayors

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya — The Army is readying rebellion charges against two mayors in Nueva Ecija and neighboring Nueva Vizcaya for allegedly providing the New People’s Army (NPA) with financial and logistical assistance, including firearms and ammunition.

Army intelligence sources said the two officials of remote towns at the boundary of the two provinces have been extending regular assistance to the underground movement, as documents found in an NPA camp in the Caraballo mountains last year showed.

A former rebel-turned-military asset, according to the sources, confirmed this, saying the two mayors have been helping the rebels for quite some time.

Troops under Brig. Gen. Jovito Palparan, former commanding officer of the Army’s 7th Infantry Division, swooped down on the NPA camp in the Casecnan area at the Nueva Ecija-Nueva Vizcaya boundary in July last year, and found several high-powered firearms, a number of which had come from the two mayors, as shown in NPA documents discovered there.

Based on these documents, the two local officials had provided the NPA at least 20 high-powered firearms, including M-16 Armalite rifles, and regular supplies like cavans of rice, noodles, canned goods, and medicines.

Beside the two mayors, the Army is also eyeing several traders in Central Luzon for allegedly providing the rebels with food and cash assistance, as evidenced by sealed packages found in the NPA camp a day after a fierce gunbattle.

A source close to one of the two mayors confirmed one such transaction between the local official and the rebels.

He, however, claimed that the mayor had no choice but to give in to the rebels’ demand because of threats to his life.

"I am aware of some of these transactions involving our mayor and the rebels. But in fairness to him, he had been extending assistance to people regardless of who they were as long as they needed help," said one of the mayor’s executives who requested anonymity.