President Duterte will shut down mining companies paying revolutionary taxes to the communist-led New People’s Army (NPA), saying they are providing further backbone to a rebel group the government now considers as a terrorist organization.
In a speech on Tuesday, the President said he will crack down on mining companies financing the NPA by giving into the rebel group’s taxation program. He added the government will make sure no one escapes its watch in its renewed campaign against the communists.
“We have to decide once and for all. If I go against the NPAs, everybody has to reconfigure their relationship with the NPAs,” Duterte said.
“Because if you continue to support [the NPA] financially, I will close you down,” the President added.
To protect the security of the country, Duterte said the government has to trace everyone financing the NPA, including those paying the rebel group revolutionary taxes.
Aside from mining companies giving into the NPA’s taxation program, the President said the government will also go after legal fronts of the rebel group. He accused the Left—a broad coalition of activist groups—of conniving with the NPA, alleging it of extorting money from big companies to bankroll the activities of the rebel group.
As a resolve, Duterte said he instructed the government panel on Monday to tell the National Democratic Front (NDF) he is no longer interested in pursuing peace with the communists. “As of [Monday], I have decided to cut talks with the NPAs,” the Chief Executive said.
“You tell the guys there [in the] Netherlands, I am no longer available for any official talk,” the President reportedly told Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus G. Dureza and Government Chief Negotiator and Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III.
The government panel in May withdrew from the peace talks with the NDF, following the Communist Party of the Philippines’s order to its armed wing, the NPA, to heighten offensives in the face of the martial-law declaration in Mindanao.
The government panel and the NDF in July held backchannel talks to revive the peace talks, but all efforts went to waste, following numerous clashes between the military and the NPA. Since then, negotiations with the communists were stalled, with no clear direction from Malacañang if it was terminated or not.