ON Dec. 17, 2020, the Philippine National Police (PNP) served a warrant of arrest against a group of New People’s Army (NPA) members in Barangay San Juan, Baras, Rizal, which resulted in the killing of five NPA terrorists. Among them was Vilma Salabao @ Sandra, a staff of the Rebolusyonaryong Buwis sa Kaaway na Uri (RBKU) unit of the NPA and four other members of the Regional Special Operations Group (RSOG) of the Southern Tagalog Regional Party Committee (STRPC). Leftists groups were quick to denounce the killing of the five whom they alleged to be simple farmers. This is typical of Karapatan as well as all other front organizations of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). The attempt to demonize the government forces as murderers of activists would continue until the PNP released the identities of those killed and the inventory of the items recovered.

Just to refresh our memory on that incident, it was a product of a tip from civilians in the area who were afraid of the presence of these armed groups in their communities. During the law enforcement operations, it was revealed that the group was part of the NPA’s regional tax implementing group, RBKU. They were accompanied by RSOG members tasked to harass non-paying businessmen, especially contractors and quarry owners. Recovered in the search were three MacBook laptops and 30 cell phones, along with a submachine gun, two M16 rifles and four pistols. These laptops would soon expose the network of tax collectors as well as list of businesses, politicians and individuals providing regular support or extortion money to the CPP- NPA. Several ATM cards were also recovered, which identified establishments and individuals who provided the NPA with these ATM cards for easy transfer of money to the underground. One such establishment is a favorite mall in Antipolo, Rizal. All of them are now the subject of a criminal investigation for their involvement in the funding of these “farmers.”