(PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan)
MANILA – The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) is probing the alleged involvement of companies and even some politicians supporting the communist terrorist New People's Army (NPA).
During Monday's episode of "Tagged: Debunking Lies by Telling The Truth", National Intelligence Coordinating Agency Director-General Alex Paul Monteagudo said the NTF-ELCAC is gathering evidence about the allegations so that appropriate charges can be filed against persons and companies that support the terrorists.
He said there are 87 companies that have been identified supporting the communist rebels but declined to provide more details since the investigation is ongoing.
Aside from the firms, Monteagudo said there were also some politicians, either incumbent or former ones, who are giving support to the communist rebels through food and weapons.
"We do not want to present details until after we finish the conduct of the investigation and prepare our cases, and then we will be filing charges for terrorism financing or providing material support to terrorists," Monteagudo said.
He added that details would be presented as soon as their legal team has filed cases and identified those who will be charged.
"Unfortunately, at the moment, we cannot mention the others for obvious reasons because the investigation is ongoing, the collection of evidence is ongoing, we do not want to compromise the legal offensive or effort that our team is conducting so that we will have an airtight case in court," Monteagudo said.
The Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines. Meanwhile, the National Democratic Front has been formally designated as a terrorist organization by the Anti-Terrorism Council. (PNA)
