LUCENA CITY, Quezon, Philippines—The top gun of the Armed Forces Southern Luzon Command based here in Camp Nakar has scoffed at the Communist Party of the Philippines for its hypocritical views on extortion and refuted the accusation that the military was behind the mulcting activities of pseudo-rebel tax collectors.

“Where does the CPP-NPA (New Peoples Army) get their funding support for their anti-government activities? Haven’t they been the ones extorting their so-called ‘revo’ tax from our people?” Major General Roland Detabali, Solcom commander, said over the phone Sunday afternoon.

In a statement released Sunday, the CPP warned businessmen not to give in to the extortion activities of criminal syndicates using the names of communist guerillas. The communist urged them to immediately report the matter to the “proper revolutionary authorities for prompt and decisive action."

The CPP, through its information bureau, accused the military and police as behind the supposed extortion operations.

“These military, police and criminal extortionists pose as members of the NPA and send out crudely worded threat letters demanding money from small- and medium-sized businesses, entrepreneurs, and even rank-and-file employees and ordinary people without distinction,” the CPP said in the statement.

Detabali said the CPP warning could be against their former comrades who got suspended or separated but who still continued the extortion operations.

“All communist rebels are just motivated by easy money. And they are now fighting each other,” he said.

Detabali stressed that the police and the military were provided by the government with enough resources and support services and would not need to engage in extortion activities.

The spokesman of a regional military command also refuted the communist accusations and countered that the NPA statement was nothing but a “reverse psychology” tactic.

“We all know that the 2010 election is fast approaching and the NPA is known to impose ‘permit to campaign’ fees for candidates to win. They are so worried that other parties (not the AFP) will take part in their extortion schemes,” First Lieutenant Celeste Frank Sayson of the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division based in Tanay, Rizal, said in a text message.

The CPP said: “The perpetrators' objective in this psywar-cum-extortion campaign is to tarnish the NPA's reputation and isolate it, and at the same time pocket the monies themselves.”

The rebel group said the revolutionary movement “encourages and welcomes economic activities and voluntary contributions of legitimate businesses and entrepreneurs....for the benefit of the socio-economic and overall interests of the people especially in the revolutionary mass base areas.”

The CPP claimed that the communist guerillas have not been imposing revolutionary tax on "honest-to-goodness businesses and ordinary earners."

The NPA guerrillas, according to military reports, have been attacking businesses mostly mobile phone facilities and construction companies to force them to pay the rebels taxes.

The 5,200-strong NPA rebels have been waging a Maoist campaign to seize power since 1969.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo Arroyo has ordered the government forces of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police to finally put an end to the communist insurgency by 2010.