Army slams NPA anew for extortion
The New People’s Army continues with its mulcting operations as shown in a letter signed by Ruben Lorca, who identified himself as the Communist Party of the Philippines finance officer in Panay.
The letter confirmed that the destruction of the van and the stealing of Megavia Marketing’s cash collection and goods in Leon, Iloilo last week was a punishment for the company’s failure to pay “revolutionary taxes.”
First Lt. Mark Andrew Posadas, 3rd Infantry Division spokesman, who released a copy of the letter, said Lorca stated that the Revolutionary Peoples’ Court, or the CPP’s Kangaroo Court, passed judgment on Megavia and had sentenced it for failure to submit to the CPP-NPA’s revolutionary taxation.
“These bandits had the audacity to continue sending threatening messages the most recent one being an extortion letter dated July 27, 2010,” Posadas said.
Megavia Marketing, local distributor of Philip Morris Company Philippines, incurred damages recently after members of the NPA”s Kilusang Rehiyon Panay stole their cash and supplies and torched their delivery van in Leon, Iloilo last week.
The NPA has been harassing Megavia since July last year and also burned their delivery van full of Philip Morris products in Igbaras, Iloilo back then.
Posadas said Lorca makes no apologies for this and instead threatens that the harassment will not cease unless the company forks over the extortion money.
“The NPA’s continued harassment of the Philip Morris (distributor) is not all about money and revolutionary taxes. It is their way of sending a message to the public that they are still a potent threat in the region,” he said.
“However, they only succeed in showing us that they are nothing more than common thieves and murderers not worthy of anyone’s emulation. Their existence is shameful,” the Army official said.
Posadas said the Megavia Marketing has consistently upheld its policy of not negotiating with extortionists despite harassments by the NPA.
Maj. Gen. Vicente Porto, 3rd ID commander, said these are desperate times for the NPA.
“Extortion has always been a huge part of their operation and they rely on it for their survival, which begs the question why they continue living on the fringes of our democratic society when they can ease their hunger and exhaustion by giving up their struggle and returning to the mainstream?” Porto said.
Brig. Gen. Gerardo Layug, 301st Infantry Brigade commander, said the Armed Forces are doing their part to be always one step ahead of the CPP-NPA-NDF in Panay.
“Our troops on the ground are always vigilant against NPA attacks which is why their attempts against our soldiers failed,” he said.
