Poll materials confirm NPA, Bayan Muna link - Norby

The campaign materials of Bayan Muna seized from suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebels tend to confirm the link between the militant party-list group to the outlawed organization, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales said Tuesday. In a statement, Gonzales said the seized paraphernalia were a clear indication that Bayan Muna is part of a “single politico-military complex controlled by the Communist Party of the Philippines." “The alliance between the NPA and the party-list groups becomes obvious during elections because NPA guerrillas campaign for their candidates and at the same time intimidate or harass rival groups," Gonzales said, adding that extreme party-list groups “never denounce the violence of the NPAs." Gonzales and the Philippine military have been at the forefront of campaigning against militant party-list organizations. Also seized in the recent clash in Davao City were pocket-sized calendars, machine guns, improvised landmines and medical kits. The Partido Demokratiko Sosyalista ng Pilipinas, which Gonzales heads, also hailed the recent collective decision of local chief executives of Mindoro Occidental not to give in to the demands of NPA guerrillas for permit to campaign (PTC’s) fees. Jesuit priest Father Romeo Intengan, top ideologue of PDSP and Gonzales’ co-founder of the party, described the decision as an act of courage and a concrete expression of love of country that "deserves emulation by other local government executives." Intengan called on all political leaders to follow the good example of Mindoro officials led by Gov. Josephine Sato saying "this is essential to resolutely end the communist insurgency which has derailed for so long the country’s achievement of economic progress." - GMANews.TV