"NPA ‘tax collectors’ nabbed" - News Update - 17 March 2010 (Wednesday)

NPA ‘tax collectors’ nabbed
By Paul M. Gutierrez
www.journal.com.ph
Wednesday, March 17, 2010

The Southern Luzon Command of the Armed Forces foiled the fund-raising campaign of the New People’s Army by collecting “permit-to-campaign” and “permit-to-win” fees from local and national candidates.

On Monday, Solcom commanding general Lt. General Roland Detabali, citing a report from 2nd Infantry Division chief Major Gen. Jorge Segovia, said two suspected NPA collectors were nabbed at a joint police and military checkpoint in Catanauan, Quezon.

The suspects were identified as Rhea ‘Ka Janwa’ Pareja and Leonito ‘Ka Hector’ Dichoso.

Pareja is reportedly the deputy secretary and political cadre of the communist movement in the Bondoc Peninsula with a standing warrant of arrest for murder while Dichoso is purportedly a regular NPA fighter.

Confiscated from them were two loaded .45 caliber pistols, one computer laptop, two hand grenades, two improvised explosives and P100,000 cash.

The amount, the military said, came from the payment of unnamed candidates in the province.

Also on Monday in the Bicol region, 9th ID chief Major Gen. Ruperto Pabustan reported to Detabali that his men from the 83rd Battalion also foiled an attempt by the guerillas to collect PTC/PTW fees from candidates.

Pabustan said the soldiers clashed with at least 30 fully armed rebels in the vicinity of Bgy. Buenavista, Caramoran and a firefight lasting 45 minutes immediately ensued.

He said the clash resulted to the death of a still unidentified guerilla and the confiscation of six assault rifles. No casualty was reported on the government side.

Citing captured documents and intelligence reports, the AFP claimed the rebels aim to generate upwards to P5 billion from national and local candidates.

Despite the string of success, Detabali noted that the effort to thwart the rebels fund-raising drive and protect the integrity of the political exercise was not without setbacks.

Last February 6, in Mindoro Oriental, communist guerillas massacred 11 soldiers at a remote village in Mansalay town while they are also on a mission to foil insurgent operations in the province.