CPP-NPA-NDF EXPLOIT IPS TO GET FOREIGN DONATIONS

Indigenous Peoples (IP) are being used and exploited by the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) to solicit funds from foreign donors, according to a local IP leader in Mindanao.

“Ginagamit kaming mga katutubo para makakuha sila ng pondo,” Datu Lito Omos of the Mangguangan Indigenous Tribe of Davao del Norte said in a radio interview.

Speaking during the UP UP Pilipinas radio program on Tuesday, Omos disclosed that capitalizing on IP issues is part of the CPP-NPA-NDF’s deceptive scheme to get donations from abroad.

A church worker, Omos became a community organizer and one of the founders of LUMAD MINDANAW, a front organization of the CPP-NPA-NDF, after he was recruited by the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) as an IP representative. He has since parted ways with the Communist Terrorist Groups (CTGs) and returned to the fold of the law.

When asked about the reports of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) that the CPP-NPA-NDF had been getting billions of pesos in funding, he said that this has been going on for decades through “re-cycled” project proposals of allied or linked CPP-NPA-NDF organizations which are then submitted to several funding agencies and individual donors abroad.

Omos said, “Totoo na malaki ang pondo, iba pa yung galing sa Kongreso. May mga liaison officers na nag iikot sa nga funding agencies. Gawain talaga nila yan. Binibigay ang isang project proposal sa madaming funding agencies.”

However, he said that the IP communities which CPP-NPA-NDF were supposed to be helping remain poor and in dire need of assistance because any funds obtained are diverted to the CTGs high-ranking leaders and not to the intended IP beneficiaries.