Fermiza said that some local candidates have been hoarding rice and are now distributing it to win votes, an act, she said, that insults the people of North Cotabato “who are reeling from extreme hunger and poverty.”
By DAVAO TODAY
DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The New People’s Army (NPA) operating in the province of Cotabato has admitted of confiscating almost 100 sacks of rice in less than a month “to protect the masses from the onslaught of reactionary politicking and coercion.”
Isabel Fermiza, spokesperson of the NPA’s Mt. Apo Sub-regional Command, said the sacks of rice were seized from the “political operators” of local candidates who entered NPA territories in the villages of Magpet, Makilala and Arakan towns.
On April 13, Fermiza said, 43 sacks of rice were confiscated in Balite village and seven sacks in Amabel village, both in the town of Magpet. On April 27, the communist spokesman added, they seized six sacks of rice in Kisante village, six more sacks in Biangan village and another six sacks in Batasan village, all in the town of Makilala. On April 29, Fermiza admitted of confiscating 10 sacks of rice in Noa village in Magpet town during an NPA checkpoint.
Last May 2, a total of 20 sacks of rice were confiscated by the NPAs in the villages of Cabalantian and Binuongan, in Arakan town.
In a text to davaotoday.com, Lt. Nasrullah Sema, commander of the 57th Infantry Battalion, said the NPAs “carted away an undetermined number of sacks” before withdrawing towards White Culaman village using a dump truck.
“Mali na ang ginagawa nila, carting away rice from the people is definitely stealing from the people,” Sema said adding that the people of Kabalantian are poor.
But the NPA leader said their move, including the NPA checkpoints and “punitive military actions” against government troops, were only meant to defend the people of Cotabato, from politicians during this campaign period.
Fermiza said they have turned over the confiscated rice “to the pertinent local organs of political power for proper accounting and disposal.”
She also claimed of ambushing a platoon of the 57th IB on May 3 in Binay village, Magpet town where two government troops were killed with their command-detonated explosive. The said military unit, Fermiza alleged, “provide security force for the candidates’ surreptitious acts.”
Fermiza said that some local candidates have been hoarding rice and are now distributing it to win votes, an act, she said, that insults the people of North Cotabato “who are reeling from extreme hunger and poverty.”
She cited that poverty incidence of the province jumped from 24.4% in 2009 to 43.9% in 2012. She added that peasants have been suffering from low yields and cheap prices of their produce, while workers and laborers bore measly wages. Also said that Lumads and Moro people are victims of land grabbing and displacement from military operations.
“Despite having not made any dent at all in improving the lives of the poor, politicians and their minions have shamelessly descended upon hugely exploited and oppressed villages to coerce the masses so that they can continue to perpetuate in power,” Fermiza said. (davaotoday.com)
57th Infantry Battalion, arakan, cotabato, Election, Liberation Movements, Magpet, Makilala
