Monday, May 6, 2019

HNP-HTL alliance bets warned vs. paying NPA campaign permit

From the Philippine News Agency (May 6, 2019): HNP-HTL alliance bets warned vs. paying NPA campaign permit

The Hugpong ng Pagbabago-Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod alliance said it will junk its own local candidates if they bow to the New People’s Army (NPA) by paying the so-called “permit-to-campaign” extortion scheme.

HNP is a regional party founded by Mayor Sara Duterte while the HTL is a local party formed by then-mayor and now President Rodrigo Duterte in the 1990s.

Majority of the candidates for the city council are members of the HTL, which formed an alliance with HNP last year.

“The alliance will outright junk candidates who will be giving in to the demands of the NPA, a terrorist organization behind countless of horrendous crimes against the people,” said an HNP-HTL statement released to the media Monday.

HNP-HTL said that paying to the NPA makes candidates "terrorists themselves."

NPA's "permit-to-campaign" extortion has been practiced during elections by some candidates in order to gain access to far-flung areas where rebels have a known presence.

“The election ensures that people freely exercise their right to choose their leaders -- and the NPA extortion scheme is an absolute travesty of the essence of the election,” HNP-HTL said.

“Paying the NPA is tantamount to bowing down to them and subscribing to their destructive ideology. It is also as good as playing blind to the crimes they committed in the past and supporting the crimes and more acts of terrorism they will commit in the future,” it added.

In February, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año had called on the public not to vote for candidates who support or who have links with communist rebels.

Based on the consolidated figures gathered by intelligence groups, Año said a total of PHP195.5-million was accumulated by the NPA from its various extortion activities nationwide during the 2016 and 2018 elections.

He said that PHP300,000-PHP650,000 were collected by the communist rebels from governors and vice governors; PHP200,000-PHP500,000 from mayors; and PHP50,000-PHP100,000 from barangay officials.

DILG has earlier released a memorandum reminding all local chief executives and LGU officials that giving any form of support to communist rebels is punishable by law.


https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1069003

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