‘Killing now seen as cheaper alternative to cheating’

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga , Philippines  – Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales said some local candidates seem to regard killing their rivals as a less costly alternative to cheating in the country’s first automated elections this May.

“We in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) appeal to them not to compel us to use force to stop the killings,” Gonzales told reporters during his inspection of 18 trainer aircraft being built here by the Aerotech firm for the Philippine Air Force.

He noted a rising number of killings of local politicians amid claims by some sectors that an automated election could prompt more violence.

“I hope that will not be the case, but I appeal to politicians who have armed goons to dismantle their armed groups and those who plan to hire goons to desist from doing so,” he said.

Gonzales said that apart from armed groups, the New People’s Army (NPA) also poses a problem to the government because of its collection of permits to campaign from candidates.

However, he said the government has “crushed” the NPA “in a major way” after the President ordered the military in 2004 to defeat the NPA by the end of her term this year.

“The armed forces have done enough in terms of reducing the number of NPA guerrilla fronts. But as I have been saying, it is not our intention to defeat the NPA militarily. Actually, we would like to employ negotiations,” he said.

From 26,000 armed regulars at the start of the Aquino administration, the NPA’s strength has been reduced to only 5,000 armed men.

Gonzales said peace negotiations with the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA has been stalled by the change of leadership in the CPP.

“We had been negotiating with Jose Ma. Sison, but it turns out the CPP-NPA now regards the Tiongson couple as their leader. We don’t know where they are and the government has no communication with them,” he said.

Because of this, he said the government is appealing to all sectors nationwide to help convince individual members of the NPA to “return to the fold of law.”

No funds for Lakas senatorial bets

Meanwhile, administration senatorial candidate Silvestre Bello III said they have no reason to complain over their party’s lack of financial support for their campaign.

“I’m not expecting anything. In fairness, the party did not commit anything to us. (So) I have no reason to complain,” he said.

With the campaign period nearing its halfway mark, Bello, a former justice secretary, said the senatorial candidates have yet to receive campaign funds from the Lakas-Kampi-CMD, which was able to put up only six senatorial candidates instead of 12.

The other official administration senatorial hopefuls are re-electionist Senators Ramon “Bong” Revilla and Lito Lapid, broadcaster Rey Langit, Mayors’ League national president Ramon Guico, and lawyer Raul Lambino.

“The party’s pipeline (fund source) has yet to be opened or I haven’t seen it at all yet. We will just complement (our lack of funds) with track record and integrity. As you all know, I’m one of those few in the administration who has never been involved in alleged scams,” he said.

Bello said that despite having limited funds, he will see his campaign to the end and hope the electorate would elect candidates based on credentials and not be swayed by expensive propaganda on television and radio.

He, however, admitted that those spending millions of pesos have been faring well in surveys compared to less-moneyed or cash-strapped candidates like him.

“It’s very unfortunate that some have to spend billions just to be elected president or senator. But how can they recoup their expenses when they get elected, but to resort to corruption,” he said. -–Ding Cervantes (The Philippine Star) with Charlie Lagasca