CPDF; No fee for campaign

EPCC NEWS
March 17, 201o

CPDF; No fee for campaign

Los Angeles- The EPCC NEWS learned today that an official of the Cordillera People’s Democratic Front (CPDF) said guerrilla leaders would allow political candidates to campaign in Cordillera villages where communist rebels operate without paying permit to campaign (PTC) fees.

Simon Naogsan, spokesman of the CPDF, the local political arm of the National Democratic Front, said New People’s Army (NPA) rebels have never forced candidates to pay the NPA in exchange for access to so-called rebel territories.

Donations

But Naogsan said donations that rebels received during the election period in 2007 reached P500,000 worth of cash and goods in the Cordillera alone.

What rebel leaders in the region wanted was coordination to avoid clashes between guerrillas and security escorts of politicians, he said.

Naogsan said the group would welcome “any help or support from these candidates in cash or in kind … even moral support.”

“Kusang loob nilang ibinibigay (Candidates give us cash or goods on their own volition),” he said.

Goods

The type of goods previously donated to the rebels were firearms, mobile phones and food.

“In fact, even without the PTC, candidates may campaign in areas that we cover. PTC is not necessary. All they have to do is negotiate with us properly because we are strict [about our] security,” he said.

He said NPA rebels needed to know if candidates would bring along armed bodyguards. Rebels also need to be assured that the security men hired by candidates are not serving as spies for the government.

Where cash goes

He said cash donations helped fund the CPDF’s “administrative operations,” as well as training services for farmers.

The CPDF is the national minority version of the National Democratic Front (NDF) in the Cordillera Autonomous Region ) in the North Luzon highland. Another Autonomous region is the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindana0 (ARMM) where the MILF insurgency is active.

The ARMM is where the Maguindanao massacre took place in November 2009 where 64 persons were killed including 34 journalists in the Philippines. The biggest number of journalist killed in one day in the whole world.

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