No NPA bets in village polls, says rebel spokesman in Rizal

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer (Oct 18): No NPA bets in village polls, says rebel spokesman in Rizal

The New People’s Army communist guerrillas did not field candidates in the coming barangay (village) elections on Oct. 28 contrary to the claim of the military, a rebel spokesman in Rizal province said.

“The NPA in Rizal, as member of revolutionary organization, does not believe in elections being undertaken by the reactionary government. It is definitely not participating in this exercise and will not field any candidate in any barangay in Rizal province,” Macario “Ka Karyo” Liwanag, spokesman of NPA Narciso Antazo Aramil Command operating in Rizal, said in a statement late Thursday afternoon.

The deadline for the filing of the certificate of candidacies for the barangay elections ended 5 p.m. Thursday.

However, Liwanag said the revolutionary movement will respect the right of the people to choose their barangay leaders. He emphasized that the NPA will not allow candidates to violate policies of the rebel movement in conducting campaign inside their so-called revolutionary territories.

Last month, Lt. General Caesar Ronnie Ordoyo, head of the military’s Southern Luzon Command, claimed that the NPA was setting the groundwork to control remote areas by fielding its own candidates for the barangay polls.

Ordoyo had asked the public to reject NPA candidates.

Liwanag said Ordoyo’s allegation was nothing but “red baiting” and false accusation against candidates who are government critics and are supportive of victims of military abuses and wrongdoings.

“The AFP-PNP forces in the province will surely use the election time to penetrate revolutionary territories, spread poisoned black propaganda against the revolutionary movement and attack the revolutionary forces,” Liwanag said.

Liwanag said the barangay election would be a “proxy war” between rival political dynasties to solidify their hold in the barangay in preparation for the 2016 election.

As in the past elections, the coming barangay election will still be by the “power of 3 G’s – goons, guns, and gold”.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/509561/no-npa-bets-in-village-polls-says-rebel-spokesman-in-rizal