NICA chief warns companies aiding 'Reds'
By Dempsey Reyes / The Manila Times
The head of the country's intelligence agency on Monday warned companies giving financial assistance to communist rebels that they face criminal charges.
Alex Monteagudo, a retired general who is the director-general of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA), said the government, particularly the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac), will be compelled to stop the companies from operating by "enforcing the law" against them.
Monteagudo disclosed they have a list of companies and individuals aiding or paying extortion money to the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Front and they are building up cases against them.
"We will be filing cases. NTF-Elcac is pursuing it," he said.
"If the companies refuse to work with the NTF-Elcac, then we will enforce the law so we can compel them to stop. Once they are charged, imagine if it's a big company, a multinational company with billions of assets, all of these can be frozen by the AMLC (Anti-Money Laundering Council) if you are involved in terrorism financing," he said in a forum hosted by the NTF-Elcac.
He said those who will cooperate with the authorities will be given protection from the government.
He told private companies to stop funding communist rebels if they do not want to be charged.