NPA extortion is alive and kicking 
August 28, 2006
Rep. Loretta Ann P. Rosales
Akbayan
Mr. Speaker, I rise today on a matter of personal and collective privilege. I wish to bring to the attention of this chamber another sad case that only strengthens the case against the darker side of the revolutionary forces under the New People’s Army of the Communist Party of the Philippines.
Mr. Speaker, lest this be misconstrued to mean that I am playing into the hands of the trite propaganda line that revolutionary taxation as extortion is just a means to discredit the NPA and the cause it is fighting for, let me be clear that this is not the case. Akbayan, and this representation, stand for the plurality of ideas and the multitude of ways by which groups and individuals choose to express their principles. We stand for peace based on justice and the universality of human rights. Which is why we denounce atrocities and violations of people’s rights regardless of the source and the culprits.
And we denounce the military for its continued denial of involvement in the killing of hundreds of activists belonging to progressive organizations, but in the same breath we also denounce the less-than exemplary activities done by the NPA. In this war, nobody wins and it is innocent, unarmed civilians who suffer.
For example, it has been brought to my attention that AlterTrade, an alternative business enterprise based in Bacolod City was recently the subject of harassment by elements of the NPA who were trying to impose revolutionary taxation on them.
For refusing to shell out P30 million, a truck, which the company owns, was burned last August 13, 2006 in Toboso, Negros Occidental. The cargo truck was loaded with banana and was being driven by Noel Bautista on its way to Sitio Bato-Bato, Brgy. Tabun-ak, Toboso. According to news reports, it was flagged down by three unidentified men with handguns. The three, two of them supposedly minors, ordered Bautista to bring the truck to an isolated area of the sitio. They continuously blew the horn of the truck, as a signal, and the three were joined by about 20 of their comrades. Then they set fire to the truck. The NPA has been trying to exact the amount from AlterTrade since a few years back and have recently sent feelers for “collection”.
As related by Altertrade in a letter sent to my office, five years ago, Altertrade sought help from friends on the same problem. At that time they received a letter from the Communist Party of the Philippines-Negros Island Regional Party Committee demanding that "P30 million [be] turned over to the Party treasury." Portions of the said letter demanded Altertrade to "take positive response to the will of the Party" and reminded them that "whatever action [Altertrade] takes will be dealt with accordingly by the Party." The matter was brought up with Philippine authorities, foreign governments who are involved in the GRP-NDF peace process, and to fair trade movement partners of Altertrade. Because of that broad intervention, the CPP-NPA-NDF did not pursue their demand but warned Altertrade that the problem is not over yet because they will get back at us "as soon as the situation allows."
What makes the case of AlterTrade different is that this is not a giant corporation like the telecommunication or mining companies whose properties have been similarly torched in the past by NPA rebels. AlterTrade was borne out of the hunger epidemic that struck Negros in the 80s, when sugar prices plummeted in the world market sending thousands of farm workers and their families into poverty and starvation. Seeing that initial relief efforts were insufficient to meet the needs of the communities, talks began on how to orient aid extended to the Negros families towards long-term rehabilitation and self-sufficiency.
With the help of well-meaning Japanese NGOs and consumer groups, AlterTrade was born in 1987, following a series of consultations on how to go about equipping Negros families with the tools and skills necessary to help break down the social inequity and power relations that lie at the core of the famine that struck the province. Guided by the principle of people’s development it employs people to people trade as a means through which their constituents may be lifted out of poverty. It also anchored its methodologies on the precepts of sustainable agriculture, shunning the destructive powers of chemicals and pollutants in favor of appropriate technology and the like.
The company was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission with five original incorporators to engage in both domestic and international trading. It has paid-up capital of P12,500. The company borrowed P50,000 as seed capital and received an advance payment of P450, 000 from its Japanese partners to start the muscovado operations. The five original stockholders also became the initial staff. The number of stockholders later expanded to 13.
The first commodity that AlterTrade traded was muscovado sugar. Muscovado, largely seen as a “poor man’s sugar,” was viewed by Alter Trade as an apt statement of its vision to help the poor of Negros. It adopted the brand name Mascobado, “mas” meaning the masses—the ordinary people. Thus, Mascobado means “people’s sugar” to contrast with the sugar produced by the hacienderos and the big multinational milling companies. It was first shipped to Japan in 1987, its initial market were the cooperatives in that country. A year later, trading firms from Switzerland and Germany, and then Italy, that espoused the principles of fair trade, began buying ATC’s sugar.
In 1992, ATC established the Alter Trade Manufacturing Corporation (ATMC) to handle milling of sugarcane as well as its packing operations. Five years later, in 1997, ATC established another subsidiary, the Diversified Organic Enterprises, Inc. (DOEI) to handle the production of organic fertilizer. In that same year, the Alter Trade Foundation, Inc. was established to provide credit to small farmers engaged in the Bio-Organic Conversion Program (BOCP) in sugarcane, Balangon banana and other diversified crops production.
Currently, AlterTrade exports its products to Japan (76.4%), Germany (11.4%), Switzerland (9.6%), Austria(0.68%), France(0.61%), Malaysia (0.71%), So. Korea (0.58%). In all, the Alter Trade Group employs 504 full-time staff, fieldworkers, packers and haulers and provides services to more than 5,000 farmer-beneficiaries nationwide.
ATC also buys bananas worth P25,000 from Toboso and Calatrava growers, which are picked up twice a month, according to Altertrade President Norma Mugar. She sent an appeal to priest-turned rebel Frank Fernandez, who is supposedly secretary of the Komiteng Rehiyonal-Negros, asking the CPP to pity on the banana growers, especially in these times of economic crisis.
Mr. Speaker, again and again we have to reiterate our position that the revolutionary taxation system being implemented by the NPA is plain and outright extortion. It is a violation of international humanitarian law as it entails the use of force, coercion and intimidation against non-combatants. This is in patent disregard for the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and international Humanitarian Law (CARHRIL) to which the CPP-NDF acceded to in its peace talks with the Philippine government.
Specifically, the CPP-NPA-NDF is in violation of Part I, Article 5 of CARHRIL, which states: “The Parties affirm the need to promote, expand and guarantee the people's democratic rights and freedoms, especially of the toiling masses of workers and peasants.”
They are also in violation of CARHRIL Part III, Article 2 Paragraph 18, which demands the respect for “The right to own property and the means of production and consumption that are obtained through land reform, honest labor and entrepreneurship, skill, inventiveness and intellectual merit and to use such means for the common good.”
The CPP-NPA-NDF also violated PART IV, Article 4, Paragraph 1 of the said agreement which states that “Persons hors de combat and those who do not take a direct part in hostilities are entitled to respect for their lives, dignity, human rights, political convictions and their moral and physical integrity and shall be protected in all circumstances and treated humanely without any adverse distinction founded on race, color, faith, sex, birth, social standing or any other similar criteria,” and Paragraph 4 which says that “Civilian population and civilians shall be treated as such and shall be distinguished from combatants and, together with their property, shall not be the object of attack. They shall likewise be protected against indiscriminate aerial bombardment, strafing, artillery fire, mortar fire, arson, bulldozing and other similar forms of destroying lives and property…”
These principles derive form the Protocols to the Geneva Conventions which provide for the manner of conduct and treatment that parties in armed conflict should treat non-combatants. Protocol 2 of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, for example, in its PART II, Article 4 provides for some fundamental guarantees including in Paragraph 1: “All persons who do not take a direct part or who have ceased to take part in hostilities, whether or not their liberty has been restricted, are entitled to respect for their person, honour and convictions…” and Paragraph 2 which prohibits among others violence to the life, health and physical or mental well-being of persons, and pillage.
In Part IV, Article 13 of Protocol 2, is more concrete in its provisions for the protection of the civilian population which in Paragraph 2 states that “The civilian population as such, as well as individual civilians, shall not be the object of attack. Acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population are prohibited.”
Article 14 of the same section also states that objects necessary to the survival of the civilian population should also be exempted from attacks, and this would include the means by which the civilian population makes its living. A similar provision is also found in Protocol 1 of the Geneva Conventions Article 51, Paragraph 5(b): “An attack which may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof…” is distinctly prohibited.
Article 52 of Protocol 1 also provides for the general protection of civilian objects:
“1. Civilian objects shall not be the object of attack or of reprisals. Civilian objects are all objects which are not military objectives as defined in paragraph 2.
2. Attacks shall be limited strictly to military objectives. In so far as objects are concerned, military objectives are limited to those objects which by their nature, location, purpose or use make an effective contribution to military action and whose total or partial destruction, capture or neutralization, in the circumstances ruling at the time, offers a definite military of advantage.”
The parties to CARHRIL, meaning the GRP and the NDF, do not countenance violations of international humanitarian law, and in fact ‘encourage’ victims of violations to come forward with their complaints and evidence (Article 5, Part IV). And in Part IV, Article 4, Paragraph 5, it says “Civilians shall have the right to demand appropriate disciplinary actions against abuses arising from the failure of the Parties to the armed conflict to observe the principles and standards of international humanitarian law.” The NPA should be reminded of this just in case they are thinking of reprisal against Altertrade for bringing up this issue at this level.
Unfortunately, the Joint
Monitoring Committee is not functioning with the suspension of peace
talks. And even when it was functioning, the JMC was inherently
limited in its advisory capacity. All it could do was make
recommendations to the parties concerned. However, this does not
exempt the CPP-NDF from its obligations under the agreement and under
the principles and standards of human rights and IHL (Article 6, Part IV
of CARHRIL). As a matter of fact, in Part III, Article 6 of
CARHRIL, “All necessary measures shall be undertaken to remove the
conditions for such violations and to render justice to and indemnify
the victims.”
The NPA’s use of arms to exact fees from entities such as
AlterTrade, whose peaceful constituencies benefit from its programs must
not be allowed to pass by unnoticed. It is the same practice that
Akbayan finds unacceptable in its filing of an anti-permit to campaign
measure, House Bill 1952 which prohibits the payment of PTCs during
campaign periods. Force and intimidation are unacceptable means to
wage a war against a common enemy – injustice and poverty, and the NPA
must learn to respect that not all those who want to see societal change
can be bullied into turning a blind eye to its less-than savory
practices.
At a time when political activists are being killed left and right, when the military is yet to be made accountable for these atrocities, the NPA cannot and should not display behavior that runs contrary to its self-proclaimed role of being the people’s protector. Its attempts at extorting money from reputable organizations whose aim is to help the poor is downright gangsterism and hypocritical in the context of CARHRIL. Burning equipment as an enforcement methodology for their internal system sounds more like something one would expect from the mafia, and not an avowed ‘revolutionary organization’.
Akbayan believes that peace can only be achieved if the initiatives of the whole range of progressive organizations, including alternative trade organizations are respected and left out of the ongoing war between the NPA and the government. We all want the same thing – a better life for the poor and marginalized. As Altertrade has pointed out in its appeal, we need to show the NPA “that what they are asking and doing will not only harm the Alter Trade Corporation but also the poor farmers (the organization) is serving.”
But the NPA seems to have lost sight of this, and is instead training its sight on easy prey for sustenance, at no regard to the cost. This practice must not be condoned and I enjoin my colleagues to join me in condemning the NPA and persuade the CPP from continuing this practice. Thank you.
