NPA to dismantle Dazas' private army, anti-people projects in Northern Samar

By NDF - Eastern Visayas
November 20, 2012

The National Democratic Front-Eastern Visayas today said orders have been issued to all units under the Rodante Urtal Command of the New People's Army in Northern Samar to dismantle the Dazas' private army as well as their anti-people projects.

“Cong. Raul Daza and his son, Northern Samar Gov. Paul Daza, are rabid supporters of the Aquino regime's Oplan Bayanihan to consolidate their political power,” said NDF-EV spokesperson Fr. Santiago Salas. “Gov. Daza, who also chairs the Regional Peace and Order Council, has been pushing for the setting up of Barangay Peacekeeping Action Teams (BPATs) in support of “counterinsurgency.”

Moreover, the NPA has found the BPATs in Northern Samar to be actually a front for the Dazas' private army in recruiting goons for the 2013 elections. Even the local government units in the province also balk at setting up BPATs – about 400-strong already with more to be added – because they are obliged to spend for these though there are barangay tanods (village watchmen) and the paramilitary CAFGU doing the same functions.”

The NDF-EV spokesperson added the Dazas also received a total of P225 million, with P100 million more due in 2013, from the Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (PAMANA) project of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process. “The PAMANA-funded projects, such as the P30 million Mondragon-Silvino Lobos road, are merely cash cows for the Dazas as well as part of “counterinsurgency” especially in covering up human rights violations and the militarization of various areas under Oplan Bayanihan. There are already criticisms against PAMANA because it is merely duplicating the services of other government agencies; its real role is to apply the cosmetics of “peace and development” to vicious military operations under Oplan Bayanihan.”

Fr. Salas also said the Dazas lead the provincial government in supporting the 8th Infantry Division through funding the Local Social Integration Program, which gives monetary rewards for any NPA member who surrenders. “The Dazas and the 8th ID show their contempt for the people by calling on the NPA to give up the armed struggle and participate in the LSIP. They feign to dangle rewards and livelihoods worth a few thousand pesos, which in the end still results in a lifetime of poverty. Needless to say, the Dazas and the 8th ID have utterly failed, while the NPA and the peasant masses persevere in the just cause of the revolutionary struggle and believe the root causes of the civil war must be addressed.”