NPA raising permit-to-campaign fees on top pols such as Pacquiao — Army report

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The New People’s Army (NPA) has been trying to collect more permit-to-campaign and access fees from such national candidates as senators, including Sarangani Representative Manny Pacquiao, a military official, who has received intelligence reports, said.

But Maj. Gen. Rafael Valencia, commander of the 10th Infantry Division based in Compostela Valley – one of the remaining NPA strongholds in Southern Mindanao, said they have still been trying to validate the reports.

Valencia said the military has also been trying to ascertain “whether the negotiations for the permit-to-campaign fees for senatorial bets are being done at the regional level or at the national level.”

“It is very likely that they will have a hard time if they have to negotiate it by region,” he said, without specifying how much the NPA wanted from those running for national elective posts.

But Valencia said based on documents the military has recently seized, the NPA has not increased the access and permit-to-campaign fees for local politicians.

“They are almost the same as the amount they tried to collect in 2013,” he said. “This is the latest, and the current rate, which is more or less the same as the rate they imposed in 2013,” he added.

For governors, the NPA collects permit to campaign fees of P1.5 million, according to Valencia.  For those running for congress, the PTC fee ranges from P300,000 to P500,000; for those running for city mayor, a PTC of P50,000 to P300,000; for vice governor, a PTC of P50,000; for town mayors P25,000 to P50,000; while for those running for board member, P10,000 to P30,000.

“We are intensifying our security operations to prevent the NPA from conducting their activities, but the threat of the PTC is very real,” Valencia said.  SFM