NPAs own farms to fund cause – Army

From the Manila Times (Apr 2): NPAs own farms to fund cause – Army

BACOLOD CITY: The communist rebels are cultivating vast farm lands in Negros island in their own version of agrarian revolution.

A statement by the Negros-based 303rd Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army said their source from inside the Komiteng Rehiyon-Negros (KR-N) revealed tha the terrorist group is maintaining the communal farms or “Land Cultivation Areas” (LCAs) to fund their activities.

But the insider lamented that “majority of the proceeds of these LCAs only benefited the higher echelons of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the KR-N at the expense of their lowly members who comprise 90 percent of their strength.”

About 80 percent from the LCA’s total income goes to the national organ of the rebels and the 20 percent remains with their different fronts in Negros, the source said adding that 40 percent of the remaining 20 percent goes to the leadership of KR-N and rest are divided among the units.

Capt. Ruel Llanes, spokesman for the 303rd Brigade, said that their troops deployed to conduct Community Support Program (CSP) in different areas in Negros have reported that several communal farms are being maintained and managed by people’s organizations connected with the rebels.

“What is alarming is that these communal farms reach to hundreds of hectares in total,” he said,

Brigadier General Eliezer Losañes, 303rd commanding officer, said that while communal farming is one of the sources of income of the communist rebels, “only the high-ranking CPP officials are benefiting from the income of these land-grabbed farms.”

“This has to stop. We will continue our efforts to prevent this group from taking advantage of the people of Negros. I am appealing to the owners of these land-grabbed farms to come out in the open and file charges in court against the rebels. Likewise local government officials should extend help to those land owners and workers who are victims of these injustices in Negros Island,” Losañes said.

http://www.manilatimes.net/npas-own-farms-to-fund-cause-army/389961/