Articles surfaced on Facebook about how a New People’s Army commander allegedly claimed that 18 percent of the revolutionary tax they collect goes to BAYAN (Bagong Alyansang Makabayan) and other militant groups.
The article shared by a certain Candice Lae Rodrigo to the Facebook fan page “We Support PDU30 Administration” even received over 500 shares and almost 600 reactions, as of writing.
It was also shared by other Duterte fan pages, such as “Duterte Parallel Organization –Tagumpay ng Pagbabago,” which earned 1,400 shares; “Duterte Phenomenon,” and “Pres. Duterte ang Agila ng Davao,” among others.
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All the fan pages we cited above shared an article from duterteworld.com. We tried to trace the source of the story and found out that it came from okd2.com, which published the story on February 15.
According to okd2.com, NPA commander Ka Rodolfo Peligro talked to the media in Davao City for the first time since his surrender on February 11. It noted that the subversive documents detailing how the NPA operates that Peligro had access to were forwarded to the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
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Peligro then allegedly said:
“Mula noong 1985 hanggang 2001, 15% lang ng nakokolektang revolutionary tax ang napupunta sa BAYAN (Bagong Alyansang Makabayan). Naging 18% ito dahil lumalaki na ang mga aktibidad sa syudad,” Peligro said.
The article also said that Peligro explained that Renato Reyes, BAYAN’s Secretary General, is paid to lead the militant group. He added that the 18% budgeted for BAYAN is also divided among KABATAAN, Gabriela and other militant groups.
As to how much this 18% must have been for the leftists, Peligro did not elaborate. However, he allegedly said that the rebels collected over 30 million pesos every month in Bukidnon alone.
But we have a problem with Okd2’s article. We also encountered Peligro’s name in another article, also published by the website, but it was about Peligro and 121 other NPA rebels surrendering in Bukidnon. This turned out to be a fake article that was even shared by former Interior Secretary Rafael Alunan III.
As what we’ve said in our previous bust, we could not find anything about Peligro. And if okd2.com simply invented this name, it won’t be the first time that this site has done so.
In fact, Okd2.com has a disclaimer about writing fiction to entertain readers, even if they said it is only in “very rare cases.”
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As what National Democratic Front (NDF) spokesman Fidel Agcaoili said about revolutionary taxes on June 8, 2016, he said that the tax the revolutionary groups collect are intended for funding the services of their communities.
“Alam ‘nyo kasi ‘yung revolutionary movement… that’s why we’re a revolutionary movement. We’re trying to win a revolution in order to try and establish a state,” Agcaoili said.
“Yun naman tax na nakukuha, hindi naman napupunta sa bulsa, hindi katulad nitong sa kasalukuyang gobyerno, no? Hindi napupunta sa bulsa ng tao kundi napupunta sa bulsa… napupunta sa efforts ng community to establish new schools, establish new cooperatives, mga medical services sa communities. Doon, doon napupunta iyon,” he added.
Agcaoili even recalled how President Rodrigo Duterte himself told businessmen to just pay up during a 2013 trade expo in Davao City while he was still the city mayor.
As for okd2.com’s claim that Reyes was paid to lead BAYAN, his wife has already issued a statement denying it.
In December 2016, Dr. Beng Rivera-Reyes took to social media to address claims that her husband was paid to hold rallies.
This article about NPA giving part of the revolutionary tax to militant groups is something that okd2.com made up. The website has made up a lot of stories before, many of which we have busted, such as the claims about the late Senator Miriam Santiago’s last words warning Duterte not to trust VP Leni Robredo, former President Erap Estrada rating Robredo a 2/10 in her first 100 days, Smartmatic threatening to out Comelec and Liberal Party with the truth about the election, and more.
Sources: (rappler.com, davaotoday.com, facebook.com)
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