The war of words is troubling because the organizer of the hunt we told you about, Jay Carlson of Mindoro Safaris (Tel./fax 631-725-3153), admits that he has had contact with NPA fighters in the jungle where he conducts his buffalo hunts. In fact, he says there was initially some friction with the fighters, who wanted to know what he was doing there. In time, Carlson says he made peace with the fighters by offering them supplies and other incidentals.
The problems here are twofold. One, the State Department's blacklisting of the NPA makes it illegal for an American to provide any kind of help to the group. Doing so could land you in the slammer, along with "Jihad Johnny." Two, there are new reasons to worry about possible hostility on the part of the NPA.
Reached near press time, Carlson said the hooplah is just that - hooplah. He is not providing "material aid" to the NPA, and hunters who go with him into the jungles of Mindoro won't be either. He says the situation in rural Mindoro is much the way it was in Vietnam, in that you do not know on a daily basis who is NPA and who is an ordinary peasant. "All we do is leave the local people the meat from our buffalo hunts," Carlson said.
As for the possibility of conflict with the NPA, Carlson said it just wasn't in the cards. "I have good........(continued)
