Communists meddle in Philippine vote

The Philippine military yesterday accused communist rebels of killing three soldiers and abducting politicians as part of extortion efforts linked to national elections.
Such attacks by the 3,000-strong New People's Army (NPA) have increased sharply recently as the rebels take advantage of politicians' vulnerabilities ahead of the May 10 elections to raise funds, the military said.
The three soldiers were killed on the outskirts of the southern city of Davao on Sunday as they were patrolling for NPA members who were collecting money from political campaigners, said Major General Carlos Holganza.
Sunday's incident came after NPA guerrillas last month briefly held three campaigners for a Davao mayoral candidate and burned their truck after the politician refused to pay their extortion demands, according to the military.
In another area of the restive southern island of Mindanao on Sunday, NPA guerrillas abducted another mayoral candidate and his aide after they failed to pay extortion demands, said local military spokesman Captain Emmanuel Garcia.
The military said last month the communists were set to rake in millions of dollars from extortion this year, thanks to protection money forked over by politicians running in the elections.
Candidates for posts ranging from village councillor all the way up to the president are being asked to pay between 5,000 and 20 million pesos (110 and 435,000 dollars) or their campaigners will be attacked, the military warned.