Military warns politicians vs. paying fees to rebels

TAGBILARAN CITY, Philippines  — The military warned both politicians and business entities from empowering the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CNN) by paying revolutionary tax to the latter.

Lt. Colonel Julius Tomines, commander of the 2nd Special Forces Battalion of the Philippine Army, warned that the rebels planned to sabotage government vital installations and projects to send a message that they are back in Bohol and would be collecting fees from politicians for permits “to campaign’ and “ to win’ for the 2013 elections.

Tomines also followed up the local government units in passing their respective policies on the activities of ambulant vendors, suspecting that some of the latter might just be spying on potential targets for extortion.

Marietta Gasatan, president of the Bohol Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), confirmed that some groups, pretending to be NPA members, were out to extort from businessmen.

Gastan said one BCCI member had received a demand letter from somebody who identified himself as member of the NPA, but the military later found out that he was just an impostor.

Colonel Allan Martin, commander of the Task Group Cebu-Bohol of the AFP, for his part, lamented that many businessmen continue to support the CNN and never cared for its implication on other entities. He cited a CNN diskette containing info that the group had been collecting P7 million monthly form business entities in Cebu.