PRESS RELEASE
Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines

NPA punishes criminals, not ideological adversaries -- CPP
September 30, 2004

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) said today that the New People's Army (NPA) strictly confines the carrying out of capital punishment against elements who have committed criminal and/or counterrevolutionary acts of a capital nature.

This was the reaction of the CPP to accusations by Nilo dela Cruz of the RPM-P that mere ideological differences with the CPP are the reasons behind the September 26 slaying of Arturo Tabara.

Pending receipt of an official report from concerned organs of the CPP, Rosal said he would temporarily decline to confirm or deny whether or not the NPA carried out the operation against Tabara.

Rosal, however, categorically asserted that Tabara has long ceased to be a mere ideological adversary of the CPP, especially "after he exposed himself as a willing instrument of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in its counterrevolutionary war".

Rosal was referring to the agreement signed by the Arroyo government with Tabara and dela Cruz in 2002. Tabara agreed, among others, to coordinate with the AFP in its military operations against the NPA.

Rosal said that Dela Cruz is "trying hard to paint Tabara as a mere ideological adversary to cover up the real criminal and counterrevolutionary nature of Tabara's activities and that of the RPA-ABB."

"In fact, Tabara has set himself up as the ultimate goon of Eduardo Cojuangco", Rosal said. "Cojuangco has employed Tabara and his RPA-ABB mafia gang in his landgrabbing campaigns to expand his cassava empire in Western Visayas."

He also pointed out that Tabara and the RPA-ABB have been using their AFP-supplied arms for their criminal activities.

"The people have long been demanding that Tabara face responsibility for the RPA-ABB's gangster activities as well as for its participation in the government's counterrevolutionary war, especially in Negros and Panay," Rosal said.

"He has even earned the ire of some of his men because of his failure to fairly distribute their booty," Rosal said.

Among the criminal cases against Tabara which have been filed with revolutionary authorities are charges of armed bank robberies which Tabara himself ordered in 2002, Rosal said.

The NPA in Nueva Ecija has also received complaints against Tabara for giving armed protection to the illegal drug trade and kidnap-for-ransom groups.

Reference:
Anne Buenaventura
Media Officer
Cellphone Number: +63910-240-3553



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