THE CIRCUS is in town, with barely a year till the next midterm elections. Politicians and wannabees are coming out of the woodwork. It’s the time of the year when they will do anything, including selling their “mother-in-law” and performing all sorts of song-and-dance act just to get your vote.
It is also the time of the year that the usual suspects look forward to with much anticipation, call it a windfall and bonus all rolled into one as the politician and wannabees will be throwing away money (obviously not their own) usually sourced from overpriced and substandard government projects – in short, the people’s money.
How ironic, using people’s money to get the people to vote them to office so they can squander their money. This where the profit from all those congressional investigations ostensibly in aid of legislation but really in aid of re-election pays off.
And speaking of profit, the CPP/NPA/NDF has traditionally look to the elections, particularly the campaign period, as one of their most profitable fund-raising activities.
This comes in the form of what is euphemistically referred to by “revolutionary tax collectors” as “campaign fees” – in simpler terms, extorting money, usually in ridiculously huge amounts from gullible politicians and wannabee politicians in exchange for permission to campaign unmolested in their so-called controlled areas.
During the heyday of the CPP/NPA/NDF, no politician would dare campaign in their so-called controlled areas without fear of being harassed or ambushed and killed.
But that was then. Things have changed with the relentless military sorties and the campaign of the NTF-ELCAC in winning the hearts and minds of the people; this more than 50 years old communist insurgency has withered away.
Of the 89 active CPP/NPA/NDF fronts, the AFP/NTF-ELCAC successfully dismantled 78, reducing their strength to just 11 weakened fronts, and by this time these 11 severely weakened fronts would be nil.
On top of that, the death of all top CPP/NPA/NDF leaders is the final straw in their demise. They’re now running around like headless chickens. With their ideology no longer able to sustain them, they turned to banditry.
Meanwhile, this happened: on September 2, 2023 at the Regional Trial Court Branch 2 in Kalibo, Aklan, Ian Arevallo y Inson pleaded guilty to being an accomplice in terrorism financing.
Arevallo, a member of the CPP-NDF-NPA Komiteng Rehiyon Panay “taxation unit,” was involved in extorting money from businesses, contractors, and politicians across Panay Island and other parts of Western Visayas. He was apprehended during an entrapment operation in Makato, Aklan.
While in detention, he confessed the exploitation and deceit underlying the CPP-NPA-NDF’s extortion activities.
“This conviction under the Anti-Terrorism Financing Law and Rebellion is a landmark victory for the people of Western Visayas in our campaign against terror and all those who are supporting them,” according to Prosecutor Flosemer Chris Gonzales, spokesperson, RTF6-ELCAC.
Take note that this conviction is very much timely as elections are just around the corner. In the past, it was always an open season for the CPP-NPA-NDF to extort “campaign fees” or whatever they call them from gullible politicians.
Finally, to add more nails to coffin, candidates who pay so-called “revolutionary” or “campaign fees” to rebels could face charges of conspiracy to commit rebellion, any financial support to rebels may be interpreted as aiding their cause.
“Providing funds to the enemy is a direct support to their cause, and it constitutes a conspiracy. We are increasing our monitoring efforts to discourage candidates from giving in to these demands,” according to Brigadier General Jack Wanky, director of PRO-6.
Ahay, perhaps the tattered remnants of the CPP/NPA/NDF should try being “macho dancers” in gay bars instead of extorting “campaign fees”. Who knows, they might enjoy it./PN
