Arrested NPA man bares revolutionary tax ‘targets’
Friday, February 5, 2010
Sugarcane planters, contractors, hardware stores, private individuals, and politicians are among those in the list of entities allegedly giving revolutionary taxes to the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army, documents confiscated from a suspected top official of the NPA who was arrested last Sunday in Dauin, Negros Oriental, showed.
The documents also showed that the rebel movement has been collecting from a certain Lule, Noli and Pedring all of southern Negros Oriental, monthly tax dues ranging from P4,000 to P8,000, provincial police director, Senior Supt. Augusto Marquez Jr., said.
A contractor based in Dumaguete City is undertaking mostly road projects is also reportedly paying the NPA a monthly revolutionary tax of P12,000, and a sugar planter P6,000 a month since 2008.
These were revealed by Florencio Quiño, a perceived top cadre of the NPA’s Komiteng Rehiyon Sentral Bisayas whose armed group is operating in southern Negros Oriental.
Quiño, 39, who carries the aliases of Pony/Benjie/Lito/Ale/Warren, is believed to be the head of the taxation group of the Southeast Front of the KRSB, military sources said.
A resident of Barangay Tagustusan, in Balilihan, Bohol, he was arrested recently when residents of Barangay Tugawe in Dauin confronted him after noticing him acting suspiciously.
Policemen invited him to the police for questioning but later arrested, when it was confirmed that he had was facing arrest warrants in Bohol and Cebu for illegal possession of firearms and multiple murder charges, Marquez said.
Marquez said Quiño’s arrest is a big blow to the rebel movement considering that he is handling its tax collection system.
The police now want to ask the court to freeze two bank accounts after the confiscation of ATM cards, cellphones and “subversive†documents from Quiño, he added.
He also said he will consult with the anti-money laundering council on the process for tracing funds transferred through the ATM accounts.
Marquez said he is calling on businessmen, politicians and individuals who had received threats or demand letters from the NPA to come out and support a case build-up against Quiño who will be transferred to Bohol where he is facing illegal possession of firearms before Regional Trial Court Branch 3 under presiding Judge Pacoto Yape in Tagbilaran City.
Quiño allegedly admitted involvement in the attack of the 78th Infantry Battalion in Barangay Caorasan in Carmen, Cebu in December 2001, where at least three soldiers were killed and a number of high-powered firearms carted away by rebels.
He claimed to have been recruited when he was 18 and has been active in the revolutionary movement for 21 years.
He said he had served in various positions in the KRSB in Bohol, Cebu and Negros Oriental. He also said he will cooperate with the authorities and will face the charges against him.
He also said that he had considered a voluntary surrender but was fearful that his comrades would kill him.
Marquez said that Quiño will be transferred either to Bohol or Cebu, where he is facing criminal charges if no case is filed against him in Negros Oriental.
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