‘NegOcc candidates get NPA extortion letters’

From Panay News (Mar 28, 2022): ‘NegOcc candidates get NPA extortion letters’ (By DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA)

Reports reached the Philippine Army that some election candidates in Negros Occidental have been sent extortion letters by the New People’s Army (NPA).

The 303rd Infantry Brigade (303IB) has started making verifications.

According to Brigadier General Inocencio Pasaporte, 303IB commander, information reached them that the NPA is charging “campaign fee” to candidates intending to enter far-flung rebel-influenced areas.

But the information needed to be ascertained, he stressed.

Still, Pasaporte said, there could be truth to the reports. The rebels’ finances were drying up and they needed to replenish their funds, he said.

He warned candidates not to give in to the NPA’s demands.

Anyone aiding the insurgents would be held criminally liable under the Anti-Terror Law, said Pasaporte.

Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) undersecretary Jonathan Malaya previously said they would be seeking for the disqualification of candidates who will be proven to have given extortion money to communist terrorist groups (CTG).

“It is very clear in our Revised Penal Code, as well as in the Omnibus Election Code, that giving extortion money to the NPA is an election offense. And since this is an election offense, this is a ground for disqualification,” Malaya said.

He said the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) revealed CTGs rake in millions of pesos from politicians who wish to campaign in the rebels’ jurisdiction.

Article IX, Section 68 of the Omnibus Election Code states that any candidate who, in an action or protest in which he is a party is declared by final decision of a competent court guilty of, or found by the Commission on Elections of having given money or other material consideration to influence, induce or corrupt the voters or public officials performing electoral functions; committed acts of terrorism to enhance his candidacy; spent in his election campaign an amount in excess of that allowed by this Code; or solicited, received or made any contribution prohibited under the law, shall be disqualified from continuing as a candidate, or if he has been elected, from holding the office.

Under Section 261 of the same law, an accused may also be permanently disqualified from holding any public office.

Malaya said aside from the disqualification, the agency may also file a case under the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012 as giving extortion money to CTGs can be classified as a crime.

https://www.panaynews.net/negocc-candidates-get-npa-extortion-letters/