GMA: NPA TURNING TO DRUG TRADE TO FINANCE REBELLION

Communist New People's Army (NPA) guerrillas are now turning to drug
trafficking to fund their rebellion, President Arroyo said yesterday.

"There is a strong link between terrorism and drug syndicates," Mrs. Arroyo
said in her weekly radio message. "The war against drugs is a war against
terrorists and vice versa."

Mrs. Arroyo said authorities have found marijuana plantations operated by
the NPA but she didn't speculate whether the NPA is also involved in the
more lucrative trade of peddling or manufacturing shabu.

"Ever since the United States and the European Union condemned the CPP
(Communist Party of the Philippines)-NPA as terrorists, they found it
difficult to get funds," she said. "Because of this, they were forced to
look for other means, such as planting marijuana."

"Most likely, this (NPA) group is alarmed already because of our
intensified campaign against illegal drugs and marijuana," Mrs. Arroyo said.

Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes, on the other hand, confirmed the NPA has
forged an alliance with Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) separatist
guerrillas.

But Reyes stressed the alliance was only "tactical" as high ranking
officials of both groups could not come together because of "religious
differences."

"They give advice, they share weapons, they have intelligence sharing. But
we still believe that the strategic alliance involving the top honchos, is
rather difficult because of their respective religious backgrounds," Reyes
said.

Reyes said the Armed Forces has started redeploying troops in NPA-MILF
infested areas as part of the new "war plan" devised by top national
security officials in response to Mrs. Arroyo's directive to counter the
tactical alliance between two insurgent groups.

Mrs. Arroyo also warned local officials against forging alliances with the
NPA during the election period.

The President said she was aware of reports the certain local officials,
particularly in "rebel infested" areas, were either consorting with or
supporting the NPA by paying "revolutionary taxes" so they could campaign
freely in rebel-controlled areas during elections.

"Alliances with the NPA are alliances with terrorists," Mrs. Arroyo said,
warning politicians not to pay "permit to campaign" fees which the rebels
usually collect from candidates in some areas, and urged voters to reject
such candidates.

"I want to remind our local officials that such permits (to campaign) are
among the terrorist fund-raising activities of the NPA. We know that such
permits have equivalent amounts that you have to pay or else something bad
will happen to you," she said.

Mrs. Arroyo said the NPA is also resorting to extortion, citing the recent
torching of buses owned by companies that have refused to pay
"revolutionary taxes" to the communist rebels. In recent days, two Baliwag

Transit buses have been burned by suspected NPA rebels in Nueva Ecija.

It has become harder for the rebels to raise funds from sympathizers abroad
after the United States and the European Union put the NPA on their lists
of foreign terrorist organizations last year, Mrs. Arroyo said.

"We shall isolate them from the international community by exposing them
for what they are -- terrorists masquerading as revolutionaries," she said.
Counteractions Following recent rebel attacks that killed 29 soldiers and
militiamen along with a soldier's wife in remote villages, Mrs. Arroyo
ordered a "comprehensive counteraction" that will combine military,
political and legal measures against the 34-year-old insurgency.

The presidential order came despite the announcement made by former justice
secretary Silvestre Bello, the government's chief negotiator in peace talks
with the communist rebels, that the two sides have agreed to resume peace
talks stalled since 2001. No date has been set.

Mrs. Arroyo ordered the Department of Justice (DOJ) to file criminal
charges against communist leaders, accusing the insurgents of carrying out
"treacherous attacks" despite efforts to revive peace talks.

NPA guerrillas on June 26 attacked a remote military outpost in Oras,
Eastern Samar, leaving five soldiers, 11 militiamen and the wife of an Army
corporal dead.

Thirteen soldiers were also killed and 10 others wounded in a gunbattle
with NPA guerrillas in a remote town in Compostela Valley in Mindanao last
June 30.

Mrs. Arroyo said security officials have been asked to study a
re-deployment of troops to areas where the NPAs operate. Troops in recent
months have been concentrated mostly in Mindanao, where they are battling
MILF forces and the Abu Sayyaf bandit group.

"The NPA has been engaged in a spate of attacks in recent days in parts of
the archipelago, during which many soldiers and civilians have been killed
or injured," Mrs. Arroyo said.

"We are combining military action with political and legal actions against
these renewed threats," she said. -- With Jaime Laude