The NPA is not coddling illegal loggers nor taxing poor schoolteachers

Efren Martires Command
New People's Army - Eastern Visayas
April 04, 2004

Capt. Neil Franz Versoza, chief media affairs officer of the 34th Civil Relations Unit, recently accused the New People�s Army of coddling illegal loggers after a soldier died in a sniping incident last March 26 in Marabut, Eastern Samar. The army captain alleges that the NPA attacked the joint team of soldiers and environmental department personnel so it could take for itself 30,000 board feet of �hot lumber,� a malicious lie that has no foundation except Versoza�s own shallow imagination. As a matter of fact, the various army battalions in Samar and Leyte are the most notorious protectors of illegal logging, among other criminal activities. Perhaps it would be better to closely watch what the military will do with these alleged 30,000 board feet.

To debunk this pathetic psywar ploy, the Efren Martires Command announces that the longstanding policy of a total ban on commercial logging remains in force in the territories of the people�s democratic government in Eastern Visayas. The revolutionary movement will never allow the pro-imperialist and anti-people plunder of natural resources that is being encouraged by the Arroyo regime. In fact, the NPA knows and takes steps against civilian and military officials who often connive with local and foreign big business in illegal logging, quarrying, mining, and other extractive enterprises at the expense of the people and the environment.

In the revolutionary territories, anybody who wishes to cut wood for non-commercial use or to clear the land in order to farm must first secure the permission and follow the guidelines of the people�s democratic government. In addition, as part of its service to the people, the NPA defends the territorial integrity and all the natural resources of the areas under the people�s democratic government. The military and civilian personnel of the reactionary government committing hostile actions like armed intrusions face retaliation from the NPA.

Furthermore, the Efren Martires Command considers the intrigue that the NPA is taxing schoolteachers and other poor people as preposterous and illogical. In truth, there is no revolutionary tax imposition whatsoever on the peasants, barangay officials, small professionals, government workers, and other poor people because it would be undemocratic and unjust. But revolutionary tax is indeed imposed on the big businessmen and landlords on a case-to-case basis and depending on their capabilities to pay. It is the political and administrative duty of the people�s democratic government to enforce revolutionary tax collection on big businesses and landowners who are in the revolutionary territories. Politicians are likewise levied permit to campaign fees during the reactionary elections. As a form of social justice, the tax collections go toward social services, community projects, and the strengthening of the NPA and the people�s democratic government.

The NPA in fact sympathizes with the plight of the poor schoolteachers who are underpaid, overworked and unrecognized though they are the most numerous government workers. In the countryside, the NPA talks to the teachers to discuss and unite with them regarding the people�s issues, including their struggle for higher salaries and benefits, as well as for a free, nationalist, scientific and mass-oriented education. Indeed, it is an honor for the NPA to point out that one of its allies in the National Democratic Front of the Philippines is the revolutionary mass organization of teachers�the Katipunan ng mga Gurong Makabayan or KAGUMA.

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