The Communist Party of the Philippines slammed the government for the allocation of P467 million as bounty for CPP and National Democratic Front leaders, among others, and claimed that it will only lead to more corruption in the military, illegal arrests, torture and other grave human rights abuses.

The reward system was contained in Joint Order 14-2012 issued Nov. 13 by the Departments of National Defense, as well as Interior and Local Government that listed the names of NDFP leaders, known to be actively involved in peace negotiations with the government.

Negrense priest-turned-rebel Frank Fernandez, secretary of the Komiteng Rehiyonal-Negros, topped the list of most-wanted persons in Negros Occidental, with a cash reward of P7.8 million for his arrest, military records show.

Fernandez, with the aliases of Kanor, Ibarra and Ago, has pending arrest warrants for four counts of murder and a case of attempted murder. He supervises an estimated 200 armed red fighters in Negros four guerilla fronts, military records also show.

In a statement, the CPP said the reward system will only be used by military and police officials to pocket millions of pesos and commit grave violations of human rights.

Col. Oscar Lactao, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, yesterday said that civilians who can provide information leading to the arrest of Fernandez,will receive the cash reward from the government.

Another Negros NPA leader, Arlo Vargas, has a bounty of P550,000 for his arrest. He is facing two counts of murder,and two counts of robbery-in-band, military records also show.

“We can anticipate more cases of false arrests of supposed CPP leaders, especially now that they have further raised the reward money,” the CPP further said in its statement.

A civilian who provided policemen with information, that led to the arrest of Randall Echanis, deputy secretary general of Kilusang Magbubukid sa Pilipinas, alleged to be a member of the CPP central committee, in Bago City, four years ago, got a P5 million reward for his capture, police records also show.

The CPP further said that the issuance of bounties against revolutionary leaders seeks to demonize and criminalize the revolutionary cause and works against achieving a political resolution to the armed conflict through peace negotiations.

He also said that the reissuance of the reward system violates the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees that prohibits either party to subject to surveillance, arrest or criminal persecution, personnel of either side who serve as officials, consultants or staff members in peace negotiations.*GPB

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