Communist insurgents earned at least P300 million this year through extortion from mining companies and other big businesses operating mostly in Mindanao, the military said Wednesday.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said the estimate of the extortion earnings of the New People’s Army (NPA) this year was based on military field intelligence reports.
The amount is thrice the P95.5 million that the AFP estimated the rebels made from January to November 2010 from the so-called “revolutionary taxes” imposed on businesses in areas where NPA rebels operate.
The AFP said the rebels were able to conduct their extortion activities in areas where they maintain significant armed strength, namely, in the provinces of Compostela Valley, Davao del Sur, Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Norte, Bukidnon, North Cotabato, Camarines Sur and Masbate.
These provinces are mostly sites of mining and logging companies and agro-industrial plantations.
In 2009, the AFP estimated the NPA raised P136 million from extortion.
“Despite their projection of being a guerrilla organization, the NPA has resorted to extortion and other criminal activities to gain funds and support,” AFP spokesperson Colonel Arnulfo Burgos Jr. said in a statement.
“The NPA is losing support from its mass base so they concentrate on extortion of big companies,” he added. He said the rebels had not spared the poor in far-flung villages from coercion to get them to support the rebels.
Those who failed to fork over money were typically targeted with attacks that destroyed their businesses, the military said.
The military said it recorded 31 NPA attacks this year on business establishments and government infrastructure projects that refused the rebels’ extortion demands.
The most significant attack this year took place in Mindanao in October, when 200 NPA rebels staged simultaneous raids on three mine sites in Surigao del Norte destroying property and forcing the temporary closure of Nickel Asia, the country’s biggest nickel producer. With an AFP report