Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Commission on Elections (Comelec) officials Sunday called on politicians not to pay “permit to campaign” (PTC) and “permit to win” (PTW) fees to the New People’s Army (NPA), which as revealed by documents obtained by the military, are demanding as high as P2 million from candidates who wish to campaign in areas perceived by the rebels as controlled by them.

Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento joined various Army officers in making the appeal during the Philippine Army-initiated forum on “Collection of Permit to Campaign and Permit to Win Fees by the NPA” in Fort Bonifacio.

Lt. Col. Arnulfo Burgos, Jr., Army spokesman, said the forum, which tackled one of the most-pressing election-related concerns which is the continued collection of “access fees” from politicians by the Maoist rebels, was held in line with the AFP’s advocacy for honest, orderly, peaceful, and credible elections.

During the forum, one of the reactors revealed that a report by the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research (PIPVTR) shows that the local Communist organization is expected to generate from P2 billion up to P5 billion from PTC and PTW fees collected from candidates in the coming May polls.

Affirming magnitude of the rebels’ fund-raising activities during the election period, an Army commander disclosed during the forum that documents recovered by government troops during a recent encounter with the NPAs in the Bicol region revealed that the rebels demand politicians to pay from P50,000 to as high as P2 million to allow them to campaign in remotest areas perceived as their strongholds.

Maj. Ruperto Pabustan, the Army’s 9th Infantry Division (9ID) commander, said some 500 signed PTCs recovered from the rebels following an encounter at a remote village in Catanduanes show the NPAs are asking P2 million from national candidates or those running in the presidency, vice presidency, and senatorial race; P1 million for those in the gubernatorial and vice-gubernatorial race, P500,000 for those running in Congresshe, P150,000 to P250,000 for mayoralty and vice mayoralty race, and P50,000 for those in the councilor level.

“Another document showed that for a whole lineup, they are collecting P1.5 million to P2 million. That’s all in all. That is according to the documents,” Pabustan added.

The PIPVTR report stated that during the 2004 elections, the Maoist rebels raised P1.5 billion and in the 2007 polls, they also generated P2 billion from their PTC and PTW collection. For the coming elections, the figure is expected to go even higher or up to P5 billion.

“These are serious reports because these have repercussions on our elections and democracy. I hope our institutions – including the AFP and PNP (Philippine National Police) will address the serious character of these PTCs and PTWs,” Sarmiento said, adding that “with P2 billion up to P5 billion this is a big amount of money that could threaten the existence of democracy.”

Reports say at least 80 local and national politicians, including one seeking the presidency, nine gubernatorial candidates, and congressional and mayoralty aspirants have paid millions of pesos to the NPAs to allow them to hold unhampered campaign sorties in insurgency-affected areas.