Comelec allows CPP fronts to join 2022 polls; rejects bid of pro-democracy groups

THE National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) warned the country is in “serious peril” after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) upheld the continuing participation in the country’s elections of communist-established organizations while rejecting the partylist accreditation of former communists and victims of communist atrocities who are now advocating for genuine democratic reforms.

In a statement on December 5, 2021, presidential communications undersecretary and task force spokesperson for sectoral concerns, Ma. Lorraine T. Badoy, said they were “deeply saddened” to learn that the poll body turned down the partylist application of ‘Sambayanan’ and ‘EPANAW’ while at same time upholding the continued participation in the partylist system of ‘Kabataan’ and ‘Gabriela.’

Sambayanan is a national organization composed of former ranking leaders and cadres of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) while EPANAW consists of various indigenous groups in the country. Both are advocating for greater democratic and political representation in Congress of the country’s marginalized sectors who have been the focus of CPP recruitment and radicalization since the terrorist group was founded more than 50 years ago.

On the other hand, Kabataan and Gabriela were the subject of petition for disqualification by the NTF-ELCAC and other democratic groups before the Comelec.

The petition to disqualify Gabriela has been pending with the poll body since 2019 while the petition to also disqualify Kabataan was filed last June.

“We have filed cases for disqualification against these CPP party list groups and have therefore provided incontrovertible proof that Kabataan Partylist and Gabriela Partylist are fronts of the terrorist organization CPP NPA NDF that have brought so much death and destruction to our people,” Badoy said.

Aside from being CPP-created political groups seeking to topple the government by violent means, Gabriela, for its part, has also been documented as receiving foreign donations, which is strictly barred under the country’s election laws.

Badoy noted that in support of the petitions to remove both CPP fronts, petitioners have included “powerful personal testimonies of victims and their families” over the “deceitful recruitment” being resorted to by these groups. Even children have been turned into “violent extremists” by the CPP as fighters of the New People’s Army (NPA) and where most of them ended up dead “at such tender ages and under violent circumstances” after an encounter with government troops.

Aside from the victims’ families, Badoy added the petitions against Gabriela and Kabataan were also boosted by the “direct testimonies” of former CPP-NPA officials and members confirming the two are creations of the CPP.

“It is unfortunate,” Badoy added, “that while the vast majority of our people are already awake and know the clear truth about these groups, it seems the keeper of the integrity and sanctity of our votes, the Comelec, has remained ignorant and apathetic over what has been going on.”

“We therefore ask the Filipino people to join us as we condemn this unfortunate decision of the Comelec that once again puts our children and our nation in serious peril,” the official added.