CPP faction moving for failure of elections — AFP

The military on Thursday accused the “extreme Left" of working for the failure of the first ever nationwide automated elections on May 10. "We have reports that the extreme Left wants to see a failure of election because they are enemies of the state. They would like to destroy the state," said Brig. Gen. Francisco Cruz, chief of the Armed Forces civil relations service, in an interview in Camp Aguinaldo. Citing intelligence information, Cruz said the effort is being waged by a faction within the Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) under Benito Tiamzon. As if proving Cruz’s point, NPA rebels attacked early Thursday morning government soldiers who were escorting the delivery of poll machines in the Bicol Region. Maj. Harold Cabunoc, spokesman of the Army 9th Infantry Division, said the soldiers were heading toward Masbate province on board one KM450 truck and a Simba Armored Personnel Carrier when a roadside bomb went off in Palanas town. No one was injured among the soldiers but the KM450's windshield was damaged, according to Cabunoc. Joma Sison But in pointing an accusing finger at a faction of the extreme Left, Cruz, however, noted that another faction, the one under founder Jose Maria "Joma" Sison, wants the automated elections to succeed, noting that some of Sison’s alleged allies, Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Satur Ocampo and Gabriela party-list Rep. Liza Masa, are running for senator. "Joma would like this [election] to succeed but not Tiamzon. He [Tiamzon] is for failure [of elections] because Tiamzon is a hardcore [communist leader]," Cruz said. Cruz said Tiamzon and his group believe that a failure of elections would give them better opportunity to recruit new members and combatants. He said it is also part of Tiamzon’s group’s plan for "urban insurrection." "They want violence to erupt. An uprising is their agenda. If you look at their campaign plan, that is their agenda — uprising, urban insurrection until it becomes nationwide," Cruz said. Oplan Rafael Meanwhile, Cruz belied allegations by Bayan Muna about the presence of a so-called Oplan Rafael, which supposedly details the plan to keep President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in power beyond June 30 once there is a failure of elections. "That’s part of a fertile imagination. There is no such thing as Oplan Rafael. Nobody is planning for any extraordinary eventuality. We are predicting a successful election," he said. Cruz said Tiamzon’s group and some of their unnamed friends are behind disinformation campaigns or propaganda in relation to the coming elections while at the same time harassing some local candidates. — KBK/RSJ, GMANews.TV