Rebel’s permit to campaign is illegal: Army

From the Philippine News Agency (Oct 14): Rebel’s permit to campaign is illegal: Army

The Philippine Army on Wednesday described the permit to campaign imposed by the communist rebels on politicians as illegal and unauthorized.

Capt. Patrick Martinez, the spokesperson of the army’s 4th Infantry Division here, said that the New People’s Army (NPA) rebels imposed various permits on politicians in exchange of “fees” to be allowed to freely campaign in far flung villages in the country.

These permits include “permit to campaign” (PTC) and “permit to win” (PTW), Martinez said.

He said that the NPA extract different amounts of “fees” on these categories.

Martinez said that these fees were illegal and violated the provision of the Philippine Constitution that provides “candidates for any public office to be free from any form of harassment and discrimination.”

The PTC and PTW also violate the right to suffrage and makes the electoral process a mockery because it is the exact opposite of having a democratic government “by the people, of the people and for the people.”

He said that the PTC and PTW breed the idea of corruption because the aspiring politicians would think of regaining the amount paid from public funds when elected to office.

“For the NPAs, more politicians duped, more money to collect, more opportunities to sow threat – an ingredient to massive graft and corruption,” Martinez said.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=815224