Solon: Bill to Outlaw NPA Taxation is Good in a ‘Dreamworld’

The bill in Congress to criminalize revolutionary taxes particularly the “permit to campaign” is good only in a “dreamworld.” It is undeniable that the armed Leftist guerrillas operate outside the law, are dominant in many areas and as such a dual power exists, a legislator says in reaction to the bill.

By Karl G. Ombion
Bulatlat.com

BACOLOD CITY – The bill in Congress to criminalize revolutionary taxes particularly the “permit to campaign” is good only in a “dreamworld.”

This was the reaction over the weekend of party-list Bayan Muna Rep. Siegfred Deduro to the bill of Rep. Etta Rosales to consider as criminal act all forms of revolutionary taxation imposed by the Marxist-led New People’s Army (NPA) in its areas of operation.

Admitting that he was one among several legislators approached by Rosales to co-author the bill last December, Deduro junked the offer saying “it is unrealistic as she knows that the CPP-NPA operate outside of the law, with no permanent addresses, and as such there’s no way a law can be imposed on them. " 

Besides, he said, “it can no longer be denied that the CPP-NPA are dominant in some territories in the country. In these areas, they are the alternative government that the people acknowledged and support.”

Dual power

“The reality of the existence of a dual power in the Philippines has been with us for quite sometime now, and it is bound to widen as the civil war continues to escalate throughout the archipelago,” Deduro added.

The Bayan Muna congressman also revealed that some fellow congressmen have admitted to him that they are paying revolutionary tax and access fees to the NPAs in order to keep their businesses and get security for their campaign within the guerlilla zones.

Rosales’ bill is not unrealistic but is good only in a “dreamworld,” the congressman from Negros said.

Military authorities have been reportedly lobbying for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and some legislators to penalize the NPA and its mass sympathizers and “front organizations” for engaging in what they call “extortion activities.”

Deduro advised Rosales that instead of working on unrealistic bills she should help in promoting peace talks and implementing the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian law (CARHRIHL). These, he said, are intended not only to humanize the civil war but will open the way to discuss the more substantive agenda of economic, social and political reforms. Bulatlat.com

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