NPA into kidnap-for-ransom activities? Fake news, says Joma

Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison on Monday denied that the New People’s Army (NPA) is involved in kidnap-for-ransom activities.

In a statement, Sison said the allegation made by Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa is nothing but a “cheap military psywar.”

“The NPA never engages in kidnap for ransom. That is against revolutionary principles and the program for a people’s democratic revolution,” he said.

“You are dealing with fake news and fake claims from the Duterte war machinery. You get a lot of deception from the Duterte regime, aside from mass murder and rising prices of basic goods and services,” Sison added.

Sison issued the statement after Dela Rosa presented to the media kidnap-for-ransom suspect Donato Jacob in a press briefing in Camp Crame. He said Jacob is a leader of the NPA's Sandatahang Yunit Propaganda operating in Bulacan.

Jacob, who was arrested on February 24 at Panghulo, Obando, Bulacan, is allegedly involved in the kidnapping of Raziel Bungay in Biñan, Laguna, in December last year.

Sison, meanwhile, said Jacob may be an "NPA impostor."

"I do not know him. He may be an NPA impostor or someone forced or misrepresented by the military to belong to the NPA," he told GMA News Online.

"By the way, an armed propaganda team or unit is usually a mere one third (3 fighters) or one half part (5 members) of an NPA squad if you refer to the NPA table of organization," he added. —Marlly Rome Bondoc/KBK, GMA News