LUCENA CITY—Alleged New People’s Army (NPA) rebels were now asking for “permit to campaign” (PTC) and “permit to win” (PTW) fees from candidates in the coming elections in a business-like manner.
“Since the election is a numbers game, the NPA is now approaching the candidates with a project proposal covering their purported controlled areas, even if they have none,” Major General Gilbert Gapay, the new commander of the Southern Luzon Command, told newsmen in a press conference in Camp Nakar Tuesday.
He said the NPA rebels or their emissary, present proposals complete with data, particularly the number of voters in particular areas and the number of votes that they promise to deliver to the candidates.
“What comes next is their demand for cash, guns, vehicles, and other materials. Other candidates in the past won but until the end of their term, they were giving at least three percent of their Internal Revenue Allotment to the NPA,” he said.
He said after winning, the NPA would continue to ask the politicians for almost everything.
“They (NPA) will never stop demanding,” Gapay said.
He admitted that the NPA ruse had victimized many candidates in the past.
He hinted that the business-like scheme in the collection of PTC and PTW was conceptualized and being implemented by student activists.
“In order to come up with a very intricate, well-researched paper or project proposals to be presented to their target candidates, the ordinary NPA cannot do it,” he emphasized.
Gapay belied the declaration of exiled Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison that the insurgents were not asking for PTCs or PTWs from candidates.
Gapay said Sison, who has been based in The Netherlands since 1987, “is detached from the realities” in the country.
In an earlier online interview, Sison claimed that candidates had been approached by supposed NPA emissaries to discuss PTC payments “could be hearsay or rumor from anticommunist politicians or rival candidates.”/lzb