MinBC chair calls on companies to stop paying revolutionary taxes as NPA vows to step up attacks
MINDANAO BUSINESS Council (MinBC) Chair Vicente T. Lao has reiterated his call on companies to stop paying the so-called revolutionary taxes to the communist New People’s Army (NPA), which has expressed intent to intensify attacks as it aims to unseat President Rodrigo R. Duterte. Mr. Lao said paying the revolutionary taxes “maybe a short-term solution to their problems (of being attacked), but the long-term impact is not beneficial to the business community as a whole.” “Doing this, however, will embolden the rebels to continue their activities,” he told over the weekend.
‘MONSTER’
Meanwhile, the NPA in the southern Mindanao area said they will use their might to oust Mr. Duterte, who has officially tagged the group, along with the Communist Party of the Philippines, as terrorists. In a press statement, NPA regional spokesperson Rigoberto F. Sanchez called Mr. Duterte a “drug-crazed monster and rightly called the country’s number one terrorist brazenly sitting at the Malacañan Palace.” Mr. Sanchez said that under Mr. Duterte’s administration, 57 activists and members of legal democratic organizations have been killed, aerial bombings have affected 7,600 individuals, and about 13,800 farmers and members of indigenous communities have been displaced. He added that the rebels, who have waded through the insurgency programs of Mr. Duterte’s predecessors, “will not only continue to do so under the Duterte reactionary regime but will further help advance the people’s war throughout the country.” —