MANILA: President Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte warned anew he would cancel the permits of companies, particularly mining firms, if they continued to pay “revolutionary tax” to communist insurgents. In addition to cancellation of their permits, Mr Duterte also warned he would order the filing of criminal charges of money laundering, explaining it was similar to funding a terrorist organisation. Mr Duterte emphasized that “If you are caught giving to the NPAs, I will give you hell of a time. More particularly on the mining firms, I’ll just cancel your permits.” The NPA stands for the New People’s Army, the armed component of the Communist Party of the Philippines that has been waging a Maoist-style insurgency against the government for close to 50 years, considered the longest in Asia and the Pacific.
Toward this end, the president added he ordered retired military general Roy Cimatu, the secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, to determine and confirm companies paying revolutionary taxes to the Maoists. Mr Duterte pointed out that “You are funding an organisation which is bent on destroying my country,” referring to the mining firms confirmed to have received letters from the Maoists demanding from them the payment of such taxes.
In particular, the military pointed out that such demands are nothing but extortion activities on a massive scale in areas where the insurgents claim to be operating. In late 2017, Mr Duterte signed a proclamation formally suspending peace talks with the Maoists through their political arm the National Democratic Front in Oslo, Norway which has been brokering the negotiations. Mr Duterte followed this up with another proclamation declaring the CPP-NPA as “terrorist organisations” for their unabated attacks while their representatives were talking peace with the government in Norway.
