Globe Philippines: We pay the price for refusing to pay for CPP-NPA favors

We write to express our extreme displeasure with the column of Rigoberto Tiglao, “Communists get P1.9B from telcos, other firms,” and published in The Manila Times on June 10, 2020. In particular, the column claims that “the telcos (telecommunication companies) capitulated to the CPP-NPA’s (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army) demand for extortion money so it would not destroy or damage their 20,000 cell towers spread all over the country.”

Globe has never engaged with, nor paid the CPP or its armed wing, the NPA, any amount in return for favors. It will never support an armed struggle that has claimed so many lives in the country. As a matter of fact, the strong resistance of the company against providing any form of monetary support has cost us dearly with many of our cellsites in the countryside being bombed or burned down. Aside from property damage, our Globe security personnel manning our cellsites have suffered trauma, physical injuries and, worse, loss of life. As a countermeasure, Globe coordinated closely with the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police, which led to improved responses to these attacks.