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NDF-NCM replies

Cesar Renerio
Spokesperson
NDF-North Central Mindanao
April 30, 2004

This is in reply to the statement issued by the CBCP which saw print in the national papers dated April 16, 2004 attacking the revolutionary policy of taxation. In the name of freedom of _expression we deemed it appropriate to reply inorder for the well meaning people to know and weigh up for themselves the trueness of our contentions.

Here are the objections raised by the so-called civil society:

1. If the practice of the NPA were done by other than them, would not it be classified under the law as extortion?

Our reply: Extortion is a crime of extracting anything of value or information by sheer abuse of one�s office or authority or by threats or force. The gist of the matter is the �question for what and for whom?� Let us take note that government officials, military and police are already receiving salaries and wages from the people. So when they ask for more from the people, they are abusing their office and position --- therefore an act of extortion. Revolutionary personnels and full timers do not have salaries. Theirs is the unequivocal dedication to the cause of liberating the oppressed masses, that is, for national liberation and democracy.

When the Katipunan solicited and imposed quota of support from the people (in the form of cash and materials) for the revolution it was not extortion. When the Continental Army raised funds in their war for independence against Britain it was not an act of extortion. When the Confederate Army of secessionist states in America generated funds from the people of the south it was not an act of extortion. It was legitimate taxation in support of a cause. But when the Mafia extracted money from the people, of course it�s extortion.

The question therefore hinges on the motive and its supposed use. Well, the Mafia used the money they got for their personal aggrandizement. Same thing with government officials. They kept the bulk of the people�s taxes for their junket trips and luxurious lifestyle.

On the contrary, the funds generated by the Revolutionary People�s Democratic Government through revolutionary taxation (PTC collections included) are used in an ever accruing expenses of the revolution, the likes of social services, programs of literacy and genuine land reform, medicines and medical services, allowance of personnels, ammunitions, trainings and many others.

Taxation has dual intepretations. For the people who support the revolution, it is legitimate taxation. For those who are against, it is extortion. Thus the question of legitimacy therefore comes to the fore. The GRP insists that since they have the people�s mandate through elections their government is legitimate. But as we all know, reactionary elections are and/or can be manipulated and rigged through vote buying, deception and terrorism.

To summarize, for as long as there are contending classes (rich and poor), for as long as there are oppressed and oppressor, for as long as there are exploiters and exploited, there would always be two contending viewpoints regarding taxation. Same with the viewpoint on justice, democracy and legitimacy.

2. The candidates least able to pay will suffer from the practice, the richer ones will have the greater chance of winning. Doesn�t this fact only serve to make wider and deeper the gap between the rich and poor that the Leftist revolution is supposed to correct?

Our reply: In Congress not a single representative (except the Party lists) are of poor origin. Majority if not all belong to landholding clans and families. Since time immemorial poor candidates are always on the losing side and if ever in the local positions there may be few who succeed it is only an isolated case and not the general rule considering that even in remote barangays, a candidate for barangay chairman have to shell out at least a little less than a hundred thousand pesos. Now with this set up, what chances do poor candidates have, more so in congress?

We have our policy that for candidates who are poor and financially hard-pressed which are negligible in numbers and at lower government positions only, we only ask them whatever they can give as a token symbol of their acknowledgment and respect of our policy. There are even some poor candidates who we did not ask any but only mutual understanding that should they win, they must place on their priority the well being of the poor peasants and workers. What is important is their recognition of our territory which is built on more than 30 years of life and death struggle of the revolutionary forces and masses.

3. If restriction on the movement of candidates is a violation of their human rights, wouldn�t the inability of voters to hear and see candidates running for office be as well a violation of their own right to be informed in order for them to be able to vote intelligently?

Our reply: What right of information? The right to be informed of gossips and backbiting? Of lies and pretentions? Since a long time ago, people are fed up with sugar-coated words of politicians. They are only baited who among the ruling class they choose to rule them. Thus we have political dynasties throughout because people do not have the alternative which to vote. Almost all candidates are all the same dogs only in different collars.

Here in North central Mindanao not a single case of candidates not allowed to campaign in NDF territory happened. All are given the opportunity after talking with them and after having given the assurances that they wouldn�t forget the well being of the masses of poor peasants and workers.

It is only in the territories of the NDF that you can discern people talking intelligently especially in political affairs. Here, people can freely discuss the goings on of our society without fear of being sued for libel. Talk to them about the national and international situation and they will tell you what is happening in Iraq, in Afghanistan or some other places of the world.

4. The greatest harm done by the taxation program of the NPA is in the final analysis, the intensifying of one of the worst problems Filipinos face: corruption in the public and private domains.

Our reply: Corruption has long been incorporated into the political and economic affairs of our society since the establishment of the puppet republic. Not a long time ago, the Philippines has been considered the number 10th most corrupt country of the world! And this, without having the PTC fee yet in issue! Now comes this PTC fee, and we haven�t slid yet to being number 9th most corrupt because of the PTC? No, the PTC is only a crumb on the table of corrupted wealth of politicians and government officials.

In principle we revolutionaries do not subscribe to reactionary elections as the solution to basic problems of our society. This is a political process controlled and manipulated by US imperialism (the so-called Business Round Table[1]) and its local lackeys.

We do not participate in elections but in deference to legal organizations who opted to ventilate issues on legal arena, we pay due respect to their decisions as well as the masses of people who still nurture this illusory hope.

5. In the negotiations for peace with the National Democratic Front, the greatest obstacle to the success of the talks is the refusal of the government to grant them the �belligerency status� they insist on having.

Our reply: Belligerency Status cannot be granted by one of the belligerents (in this case the GRP). It is only the international community that has the right and appropriate option to declare that such belligerent force (in this case the NDFP) has acquired the belligerency status.

Belligerency is not a matter to be asked. It is a consequence of accumulated victories of the belligerents in the political and military field. We revolutionaries can only win in the negotiating table what we have won in the political and military battlefields.

The greatest obstacle to the success of the talks is not this belligerence issue. It is the regime�s outright scrapping of the Hague Joint Declaration of 1992 and the CARHRIHL which was signed by then President Estrada and the subsequent listing of the CPP-NPA and Prof Maria-Sison as terrorists! This, after the revolutionary movement meted out the death penalty on the one-time human rights violator and criminal---- Col. Aguinaldo who remained scot-free and unpunished under the reactionary judicial system.