NPA ‘tax’ issue left unresolved during peace talks

Government negotiators failed to get a commitment from the communist-led National Democratic Front that it will stop its armed wing, New People’s Army, from collecting "revolutionary tax" amid assertion that only the government has taxation powers. In a video conference with Malacañang reporters Tuesday, government chief negotiator Alex Padilla said they raised the revolutionary tax issue during the resumption of the peace talks last Feb. 19 to 25 in Oslo. “[We] affirmed our non-negotiable position on sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic. The Government of the Philippines, we asserted, is the only lawful sovereign and taxing authority in the country," Padilla said. However, Padilla said they did not get “commitment from the NDF that they will stop the practice of revolutionary taxation." Instead, the NDF insisted that they have the right to collect taxes due to its status as a “belligerent," Padilla said. A belligerent status a legal standing akin to that accorded a government and bringing the law of international armed conflict into play for both sides. Padilla said they were left with no choice but to remind the NDF that the law enforcement agencies will go after those who will collect revolutionary taxes. “We mentioned to them as part of the law enforcement action, if any of them are seen to actually collect taxes which are beyond or illegal then hey would be arrested," he said. Asked if they came up with an agreement on how to resolve the issue on revolutionary tax, he said there was none as they wanted to focus on the main agenda of the peace talks, which is forging a final and comprehensive peace agreement. “We want to focus on the comprehensive agreement and the main agenda and not on particular issues that may derail such agenda on our part," he said. “Once we are in full agreement with the NDF then we unite as one entity without need of actually resolving this matter (revolutionary tax) and there will be no other entity to collect any tax other than that [collected by the government]," he added. Peace talks between the government and the leftist insurgent movement bogged down after the United States labeled the NPA and the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) as foreign terrorist organizations in 2002. The NDF broke off peace negotiations in 2004 to protest the refusal of the Philippine government under then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to lobby the US and the European Union (EU) to take the two leftist groups off the list of international terrorist organizations. There have been several attempts to restart formal talks since 2004, with the latest effort early in the year by the Arroyo administration. Hopes were raised when the country's new and popular president, Benigno Aquino III, took office on June 30, 2010. Aquino — son of “icons of Philippine democracy" Corazon Aquino and Benigno Aquino Jr. — reconstituted the government peace panels in the talks with rebel groups.— KBK, GMA News