'Exiled CPP leaders get $8M support yearly'

Exiled communist leaders in the Netherlands led by Jose Ma. Sison are receiving at least $8 million in yearly foreign contributions from various private organizations, military sources said yesterday.

The contributions, ranging from $100,000 to $500,000 monthly, are coursed through a conduit called the International Finance Committee, the main organ entrusted with managing the funds of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) abroad.

"Sison and his companions in the Netherlands reportedly keep $1 million each in time deposit accounts in an undisclosed bank in the Hague. Do you think they do not use these funds for their personal interests?" the source said.

Among those in self-exile in the Netherlands are National Democratic Front chairman Luis Jalandoni, his wife Connie, and Fidel Agcaoili. The NDF is the umbrella organization of the local communist movement, including the New People's Army (NPA).

The accounts of the CPP are in banks in Paris, Hong Kong, Switzerland and in a German bank in Bonn under the names of different Filipino and foreign personalities sympathetic to the local communist movement.

The source also tagged the communist parties in Europe, Asia and the Middle East as among the foreign donors of the CPP.

Local sources of funds on the other hand, are generated from extortion, kidnap for ransom activities, drug trafficking and other illegal activities, the source said.

The source said that it is understandable why Sison and his group would not want to return to the Philippines because of the amount of money they receive from their supporters.

Earlier, Armed Forces chief Gen. Angelo Reyes urged the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to use its influence to discourage foreign non-government organizations (NGOs) from supporting the local communist insurgency.