Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said election candidates who will give in to permit-to-campaign and permit-to-win schemes of the New People's Army should be disqualified.

"I agree with that because the election will not be fair if that is the case because the NPA is extorting money from candidates that will enter their stronghold area to campaign," Lorenzana said during Thursday's ''Laging Handa'' public briefing on Thursday.

Lorenzana said some of the NPA members are biased towards other candidates.

"Sometimes they are also siding with one candidate while extorting money from the other candidates," he explained.

Lorenzana said a task force composed of military and police was created to monitor those who might violate the law during the election period.

"If they will be able to prove that, they will report it to the Comelec and Comelec will file the charges," he said.

"The NPA have been doing this for the past 30 years, so we think they will still do this, but we are there," he added. Robina Asido/DMS