MANILA – A suspected member of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) shot and killed a candidate running for councilor in a town in Camarines Sur province in the Bicol Region, the Philippine National Police (PNP) reported.
A PNP spokesman identified the victim as Ponciano Numeron, 50, reportedly a retired police officer who is running for councilor in the town of Pasacao, Camarines Sur in the May 10 elections.
The spokesman said Numeron was repairing a busted light outside his house in a “barangay†(village) in the town proper when a lone gunman peppered him with bullets with a caliber .45 pistol Thursday afternoon.
Numeron, also a director of the Camarines Sur Electric Cooperative, died on the spot as the suspect casually walked away from the scene, the spokesman added.
He said police are investigating several angles for the slaying but the most possible motive is Numeron’s alleged refusal to pay a fee demanded by the NPA to enable him to campaign in rebel-controlled or infested areas in Pasacao.
Citing a report from the Camarines Sur provincial police, the spokesman said that before Numeron was killed, he confided to one of this most trusted supporters that he had been receiving death threats from the NPA for refusing to pay the campaign fee.
The NPA is the armed wing of the underground Communist Party of the Philippines which has been waging an insurgency war against the government for more than 40 years, considered the longest in Asia and the Pacific.
On February 22, the PNP regional command in Bicol disclosed that more than 100 color-coded permits-to-campaign were recovered following an encounter between government forces and NPA insurgents in the town of Caramoran on the island province of Catanduanes also in the Bicol Region.
Also recovered was a list of candidates who allegedly secured such permits from the rebels by paying the fee demanded, the report added.
Earlier, police and military authorities admitted this was not the first time that the NPAs have demanded fees from candidates so that they could secure permits to enable them to campaign in rebel-controlled areas every election time.
But they said this was the first time that the rebels have issued color-coded campaign permits to politicians seeking elective positions in the May 10 polls.
“That’s how the NPA leaders have become so sophisticated in their extortion activities by adopting color-coded campaign permits so they could earn more money either for the movement or for the selfish interests of their leaders,†said a reliable military source who requested anonymity because he is not allowed to speak to media on the issue.
The source revealed that each color represents the amount that each candidate is supposed to pay to the NPA.
He said the rebels are demanding the equivalent of $4,000 for politicians seeking national elective positions like senator, $2,000 for governor and vice governor, $1,000 for congressman, as well as between $500 and $700 for mayor and vice mayor and $400 for councilor.
The source also admitted such NPA permits can mean the victory or defeat of candidates especially in closely-fought electoral contests.
The source explained that in some instances, the higher the fee that a candidate pays, the greater his chances of getting the votes in rebel-controlled areas because the NPA leaders can dictate on who to support in the elections.
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