Insurgency: Intel Units Monitor NPA Extortion

 Last week an Abu Sayyaf mole in the PNP was arrested.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1467479/abu-sayyaf-officer-who-is-also-a-non-uniformed-pnp-personnel-nabbed-in-sulu

A logistics liaison officer of the Abu Sayyaf Group who was arrested on Friday turned out to be a non-uniformed employee of the Philippine National Police (PNP), Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, the PNP chief, said in a press conference in Zamboanga City on Sunday.

Eleazar identified the suspect as Masckur Adoh Patarasa, a brother-in-law of the late ASG leader Isnilon Hapilon. He was arrested in an intelligence-driven police operation in Barangay Asturias in Jolo, Sulu.

“Investigation revealed that Patarasa is an active non-uniformed personnel of the Philippine National Police presently assigned at Banguingui Municipal Police Station, Sulu PPO [Police Provincial Office] but was also found out to be finance and logistics liaison officer of Dauwla Islamiya under the ASG and was included in the Martial Law Arrest Order No. 1 during the Marawi Siege in 2017,” Eleazar said.

Patarasa joined the Jihadist organization in 2001 under ASG leader Khadaffy Janjalani in Basilan but later shifted to ASG Senior Leader Radullan Sahiron in Sulu, according to Eleazar.

He was also known to have direct contact with Jemaah Islamiyah operative Amin Baco, a.k.a. Guro Jihad, and other ASG members.

Further investigation revealed that Patarasa received funds from Almaida Salvin, a designated terrorist included in the U.S. Treasury’s sanctions list who was arrested sometime in April 2019 for illegal possession of explosives through Merhama Sawari, who was killed in Parañaque shootout together with three suspected terrorists on June 20, 2020.

A brother-in-law of Isnilon Hapilon who was the finance and logistics liason officer of ASG as well as having a warrant out for his arrest since 2017 turned out to be a mole inside the PNP. There is no word on what his role was as a non-uniformed employee and the PNP cannot explain how he was able to join their ranks.

Whatever the case may be this is a shocking instance of the PNP's complete lack of intelligence abilities. Did no one run a background check on this man? It also raises questions of how many more moles are in the PNP and the AFP. Remember the NICA estimates there are 300,000 communist terrorists working for the government at various levels.

Properly gathering and assessing intelligence is very important in defeating the insurgency and the PNP and AFP have shown us time and again they simply do not appreciate the threats that come their way.  How then can the government be trusted to monitor NPA extortion activities this election season?

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1149487

Government intelligence units in Region 12 (Soccsksargen) are monitoring possible extortion activities by communist terrorist group (CTG) members on local politicians in line with the 2022 elections. 

Eduardo Marquez, director of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA)-Region 12, said they are coordinating with various security and law enforcement agencies in the region to track any related movements by the New People’s Army (NPA) and its allied groups. 

In the past years, he said they monitored offers made to politicians for campaign-related activities even ahead of the official filing of certificates of candidacy (COC). 

The Commission on Elections has set the filing of COCs for the May 9, 2022 national and local elections from October 1 to 8. 

“We’re monitoring this early to counter any possible movement or activity and also protect our politicians,” he told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) in an interview on Wednesday. 

Marquez advised prospective politicians and officials seeking reelection to reject these offers and report them to authorities. 

He said giving in to demands for payment of the so-called “permit-to-campaign” and “permit-to-win” fees as well as other arrangements are considered as support to the communist terrorist groups.

What is the point of this charade? They know who is paying the NPA extortion tax. In 2019 the DILG said they had a list of 349 government executives who were paying the CPP-NPA to campaign.

https://www.dilg.gov.ph/news/DILG-349-government-execs-pay-CPP-NPA-extortion-money-permit-to-campaign/NC-2019-1060

The people deserve to know what happened to the officials on this list. Are some of them holding office? Will they be up for reelection next year? Was anyone arrested?

RTF-6 which covers the Western Visayas thinks they will be ending NPA extortion activities soon and very soon.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1149521

The extortion activities of the Communist Party of the Philippines–New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) will soon come to an end with the ongoing investigation being conducted on the alleged support extended to them by companies and even politicians, a Western Visayas Regional Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (RTF6-ELCAC) official said on Thursday.

Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Flosemer Chris Gonzales, RTF 6-ELCAC spokesperson, said the disclosure of National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) Director-General Alex Paul Monteagudo that companies and some politicians are supporting the communist rebels will eventually lead to withdrawal of support to their extortion scheme.

Monteagudo, during Monday's episode of "Tagged: Debunking Lies by Telling The Truth", said the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) is gathering evidence on the allegations to prepare appropriate charges against persons and companies supporting the terrorists.

Monteagudo said 87 companies have been identified supporting the communist rebels but declined to give more details while an investigation is ongoing.

“The CTG's (communist terrorist group) lifeblood and lifeline will be cut. Without the funds generated from their extortion and other terrorism financing schemes, the CTG cannot hope to sustain their terroristic activities,” Gonzales said in a statement released to the Philippine News Agency (PNA).

Who are these 87 companies supporting the CPP-NPA by giving in to extortion demands? I bet we will never find out and we will never hear of this again. But it cannot possibly matter because according to the NICA the CPP-NPA-NDF has amassed P5.3 billion in three years between 2016-2018.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1149156

The Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) have collected a whopping PHP5.8 billion from 2016 to 2018 alone to finance their terroristic activities in the country and to support the lavish lifestyles of their leaders.

The National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) bared this on Monday at the regular virtual press conference of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) which stated that the bulk of the funds came from foreign donors deceived by the Communist Terrorist Groups (CTGs) into giving donations using issues on human rights and Indigenous Peoples (IPs).

"Malambot ang puso ng mga foreign donors (Foreign donors have a soft heart)," NICA Director General Alex Paul Monteagudo pointed out.

He, however, said the CPP-NPA-NDF could no longer use the same modus here in the country as the Filipinos are aware of the CTGs' deceptive schemes.

Other sources of the funds were collected through the Rebolusyunaryong Buwis Ukol sa Kaaway na Uri (RBUKU) or revolutionary tax imposed and extorted from businesses in rural and far-flung areas, Monteagudo added.

Aside from terrorism, the funds were also being used "to support the lifestyle of their leaders," Monteagudo said, citing as an example Bayan Muna Partylist Representative Carlos Zarate who was using money collected by the CTGs to finance his son's education in Poland as mentioned by President Rodrigo Duterte during his last State of the Nation Address (SONA).

Monteagudo said a high ranking official of the CTGs has admitted that the CTGs could not afford to stop their extortion activities as these have become an important part of their “livelihood”.

"Hindi pwede. Dahil ito na ang aming pamumuhay (It cannot be stopped. Because it is our) livelihood," CPP`-NPA-NDF official Jorge "Ka Oris" Madlos who headed the NPA National Operational Command (NOC), told Monteagudo during their meeting years ago.

The NICA chief said Madlos continues to head the NOC because of his reputation of collecting large amounts of revolutionary taxes.

"Kaya siya naging ulo ng NOC. Lahat ng paraan ginagawa para mafinance ang kanilang operation (That is the reason why he is the head of NOC. They are doing everything to finance their operation)," Monteagudo explained, referring to CPP-NPA-NDF’s other schemes to fund their terrorism, such as using front organizations like the Partylist groups in Congress.

So, the NICA, the Philippines' head intelligence agency, knows how much the CPP-NPA-NDF bring in through extortion, knows how they are spending it, and knows who is the man in charge of gathering this revenue but they can't stop it?? That is unbelievable and screams of incompetence. No wonder the insurgency has lated for 52 years. At this rate it will last another 52 years!

If the NICA can't stop the funding of the CPP-NPA then any revelation from the AMLC about which foreign organizations are funneling money to them would seem to be pointless.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1149648

The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) has discovered at least 18 foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that have been financing the operations of local communist terrorist groups (CTGs).

This, according to lawyer Emet Manantan, AMLC Deputy Director and Head of the Financial Crime Investigation Group, during a recent virtual briefing of the National Task Force To End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). 

“Nakita po namin dito mga euros and US dollars po na pumapasok dito (The currencies deposited in their accounts are in euros and US dollars). May nakita kaming (We found) 440,000 euros (about PHP26 million) in their remittances,” he said, adding that they validated the information with counterparts from intelligence agencies. 

Who are these NGOs and which groups are receiving their money? Not a word is said. Perhaps they don't want to disrupt their investigation. Earlier this year DFA Secretary defended the government's monitoring of foreign NGOs to prevent funding of terrorist groups. In 2019 the government warned the public to not donate to terrorist groups posing as relief organizations. It's clear the government knows who these terroist groups are. They should inform the public by naming them.