Candidates found to be paying extortion money to the New People’s Army (NPA) will be outrightly junked from the Hugpong ng Pagbabago - Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod (HNP-HTL).
The leadership of the HNP-HTL gave this stern warning in a statement sent to the media yesterday.
“The alliance will outright junk candidates who will be giving in to the demands of the NPA, a terrorist organization behind countless of horrendous crimes against the people,” the statement read.
Requiring candidates to pay in exchange for access to campaign in far-flung areas only shows the NPAs perverted views of democracy. The election ensures that people freely exercise their right to choose their leaders — and the NPA extortion scheme is an absolute travesty of the essence of the election, it added.
The HNP-HTL said paying the NPA is tantamount to bowing down to them and subscribing to their destructive ideology.
“It is also as good as playing blind to the crimes they committed in the past, and supporting the crimes and more acts of terrorism they will commit in the future. “
“Paying to the NPA makes candidates NPA terrorists themselves,” it added.
