By MALU CADELINA-MANAR
MindaNews
KIDAPAWAN CITY.– North Cotabato vice-governor Emmanuel Pinol will not give in to the New Peoples’ Army (NPA) demand for payment of a “permit-to-campaign” and “permit to win” despite the latter’s declaration it would continue to launch attacks in Pinol’s stronghold. Pinol said that since he started campaigning for a government post in North Cotabato in 1995 as mayor of M’lang town, he has not given in to the demands of the NPA to pay them any permit-to-campaign and permit-to-win.
“Sukad-sukad, I have never given any amount to NPA para makapangampanya. Wala ko gatuo nga ang usa ka opisyal sa gubyerno dapat magbayad sa rebelde (Ever since, I have never given any amount to NPA so I could campaign. I don’t believe that an official of the government should pay the rebels)”, Pinol said in a radio interview. This as he hit some candidates in North Cotabato for allegedly meeting the rebels sometime last month in a village in Makilala town, also in North Cotabato.
“The reason was obvious. That was part of their application for a permit-to-campaign,” he said.
Pinol claimed his “tough” or “unyielding” stance against the rebels’ demand for a permit-to-campaign could be the primary reason why towns in North Cotabato where his brothers are mayors, were attacked.
On March 24, the rebels led by a certain Commander Ponyong torched two luxury vehicles owned by the Magpet municipal government when Magpet Mayor Efren Pinol, the vice-governor’s younger brother, refused to pay the NPA’s permit-to-campaign.
Two days later, the rebels under a certain Commander Bobo raided, torched a CAFGU detachment, and carted 35 high-powered firearms owned by the militia at Luz Village in M’lang, Pinol’s hometown.
In a press statement, the Valentine Palamine Regional Operations Command of the NPA Far South Mindanao owned up the M’lang attack.
“Contrary to the military’s prognosis of rendering the NPA inutile this year, the revolutionary movement has grown ever stronger and bigger,” said Dencio Madrigal, the rebels’ spokesperson.
The mayor of M’lang town is Joselito, another brother of the vice governor.