Army Col. Jon Aying, 303 rd Infantry Brigade Commander, said yesterday that rebels are no longer sending letters asking politicians to pay permits to campaign fees and are instead, sending emissaries to collect payments.

Aying said this means that the pronouncement of the New People's Army Apolinario “Boy” Gatmaitan Command that they are not requiring candidates to pay access fees to avail of permits-to-campaign in their “territories” in the province, is not true at all.

“With the elections coming, it's an opportunity for them to raise money because politicians need to campaign where they want”, Aying also said.

In a statement they sent to the media on April 2, the rebels said the claim of the Army and the police that they are charging access fees for the granting of a PTC to campaign in their territories is “a big lie.”

However, they warned that candidates should not bring with them members of the Philippine National Police, Army, Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Bongcayao Brigade, militiamen or armed tanods, who, they said, are legitimate targets.

Aside from sending emissaries to collect permit-to-campaign fees, rebels continue to send extortion letters to businessmen, Negros Occidental Provincial Police Officer-in-charge Senior Supt. Ricardo de la Paz said that when he was the Intelligence chief of the Police Regional Office-6, politicians in Western Visayas told him that they receive letters of extortion from the rebels.

De la Paz said, however, that when they validated the reports, they found out that the letters are dubious and came from individuals taking advantage of the election.

He said the letter senders claim to be rebels but are actually, just extortionists, who want to make money.

De la Paz appealed to politicians to immediately report to the police receipt of such letters, or if someone approach them, pretending to be rebels and asking for permit to campaign fees so they can investigate.*APN

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