Palace raps ‘extortion’ by rebels

THE government on Tuesday denounced communist rebel “extortion” of businesses, which a top aide of President Benigno Aquino 3rd said could scare away investments and jobs.

It has learned that seven mining firms on the southern island of Mindanao are threatening to pull up stakes after the communist New People’s Army (NPA) demanded that they pay up or face attacks, Malacañang spokesman Abigail Valte said.

Neither the Palace nor the Philippine Army named the companies but many mining firms operating in Mindanao and elsewhere have foreign equity stakes.

The issue cropped up amid a Christmas ceasefire and ahead of formal peace talks in Norway in February next year, the latest bid for a political settlement to end a decades-long insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives since the 1960s.

“That [alleged extortion] is our concern, so they [the government and the rebels] have to discuss it [during the negotiations in Oslo],” Valte told reporters.

“It is against the law, so it should be stopped,” she said.

“It is very difficult for a government to attract investors into the country when they have to face this [alleged extortion],” Valte added.

She said that the Philippine panel will talk with the mining companies that have complained of alleged extortion by the communist guerillas.

“It [alleged extortion] is a peace and order issue. So [we really have to secure] the investors. [We really have to protect the investors],” Valte added.

“We have to ensure that there is stability because we know that instability affects the people in a big way,” she said.
Earlier, the Philippine Army spokesman accused the 4,700-member NPA of using the Christmas truce to intimidate businesses into submitting to rebel extortion.

The NPA violated the spirit of the ceasefire by massing its forces in Mindanao on Sunday, knowing that the military could not attack them because of the truce, Col. Daniel Lucero said.

“The . . . display of armaments by members of the New People’s Army in Surigao del Sur [province] is a blatant abuse of the democratic space provided by the ongoing suspension of military operations [SOMO],” he noted in a statement.

Lucero alleged that the parading of armed might was aimed at extorting money from mining companies operating in remote areas of Mindanao, where Muslim separatists also operate.

“In Surigao del Sur alone, seven mining companies have reported cases of extortion by the [rebels] with amounts reaching as high as P15 million [about $338,000] per month per mining company,” he said.

The rebels have since demanded a 25-percent rise so that operations of the mining companies are not targeted, Lucero added.
Most of the mines in Mindanao exploit nickel deposits.

The NPA’s parent organization, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), also on Tuesday said that “several thousand people” took part in a Mindanao jungle parade to mark the 42nd anniversary of the party’s founding on Sunday.

“This shows the deep and widespread support of the people for the Communist Party and the revolutionary movement,” the rebel spokesman for the region, Jorge Madlos, said in a statement to news agencies.

Madlos did not address the extortion allegations.

The NPA has said that businesses operating in its zones of influence must pay “revolutionary taxes” that help fund the insurgency.
Both sides declared unilateral Christmas ceasefires on December 16 that end on January 3 next year.

The government has said that formal peace talks would begin in Norway in February, aimed at ending the insurgency within three years.

The NPA, the CPP’s armed wing, launched its uprising in 1969, and it is now one of Asia’s longest-running insurgencies.

The show of force in Surigao del Sur on December 26—the 42nd anniversary of the CPP—according to the military, clearly demonstrated that the NPA was taking advantage of the democratic space provided by the SOMO to terrorize big businesses and create an environment of fear and insecurity among the people.

“Certainly, the higher the level of fear that the NPAs sow, the higher extortion this Marxist-Leninist-Maoist [rebels] can exact from business establishments in the area,” Army spokesman Lucero said.

He claimed that the presence of NPA “supporters” who openly attended the Sunday parade was a direct result of coercion of ordinary folk, citing a recent survey revealing that people who supposedly support the underground movement do so because of fear.

An accomplishment report released yesterday by the Fourth Infantry “Diamond” Division” based in Cagayan de Oro City in Misamis
Oriental province showed that from January to December, there had been some 90 clashes in northeastern Mindanao between government forces and communist rebels.

According to Maj. Eugenio Julio Osias 4th, the commanding officer of Fourth Civil Military Operations (Masaligan) Battalion, the NPA suffered heavy losses all throughout 2010.

“With superior skill and discipline in the field, we had been successful in reducing the overall strength of the NPA all throughout northern Mindanao,” Osias said.

He assured big business in northeastern Mindanao of full protection against the communist guerrillas.

Military data showed that a total of 21 rebels died in combat with 27 wounded, while 38 were captured and another 76 surrendered.

A total of 78 rebel camps was overrun and destroyed.

Recovered from the NPA fighters, among other guns and equipment, were 34 high-powered firearms and 33 low-powered firearms.

“But the accomplishment of our soldier would have never been possible if not for the help of the communities and local government units in the pursuit of genuine peace and justice,” Maj. Gen. Victor Felix, the commander of the Fouth Infantry “Diamond” Division, said.

According to the Armed Forces of the Philippines high command, greed for money and power is what motivates the rebel leaders. –Cris G. Odronia, William B. Depasupil and AFP