‘Disqualify’ Kabataan Partylist, Comelec urged

A PETITION was filed last June 25, 2021 before the Commission on Election (Comelec), calling on the poll body to cancel the accreditation of the ‘Kabataan Partylist’ and disqualify it from future participation in the country’s elections claiming its representative in the Philippine Congress, Rep. Sarah Elago, is actually a ranking member of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

In a special “virtual” press conference afterwards at the National Press Club (NPC), Atty. Marlon Bosantog, one of the spokespersons of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), said the filing of the petition with the Comelec is grounded on the fact that the youth sector partylist group does not adhere to the country’s constitution since the goal of the CPP and its armed terrorist wing, the New People’s Army NPA), is the violent overthrow of the government and Philippine democracy.

Bosantog, also the regional director for the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), said attached to the petition are the affidavits of witnesses– former members of the Kabataan Partylist and former cadres of the communist terrorist group (CTG) CPP-NPA— who confirmed that the partylistt is just one of the many organizations of the CPP-NPA.

“These (affidavits/statements) also confirmed that Kabataan Partylist is a creation of the CPP-NPA to overthrow the government,” Bosantog said.

Last Friday’s filing is the second time the government, thru the NTF-ELCAC, has sought the Comelec’s help in ridding the country’s electoral process from the menace of communist subversion and infiltration.

The Comelec had earlier ruled that the NTF-ELCAC has the “legal standing” to file its petition against Gabriela and a final decision is expected to be handed down by the poll body anytime now.

The task force, in 2019, had also sought to de-list and disqualify the purportedly women’s sectoral group, Gabriela, also for being a front of the CPP and for soliciting foreign funding, which is against the law.

The Comelec had earlier ruled that the NTF-ELCAC has the “legal standing” to file its petition against Gabriela and a final decision is expected to be handed down by the poll body anytime now.

Statements damning Elago, Kabataan

Alms Gabin, former education department secretary of the CPP-NPA Visayas Regional Party Committee, said she was one of the founding members of the then Anak ng Bayan before it became the Kabataan Partylist in 2001, but it did not succeed to get a seat in Congress in the elections of 2004 up to 2007.

Gabin narrated that she was part of the decision making body within the CPP that crafted Kabataan’s Constitution and the processes to choose party nominees.

She added that she was in fact, one of the Kabataan nominees along with Katrina Castillo, the second party nominee, in the 2010 elections.

She said their “main objective” is to promote “the CPP-NPA ideology in the House of Congress and destabilize the government.”

She added that with regards to the involvement of Kabataan Partylist with the CPP-NPA, the partylist is just an “above ground organization” as a means to recruit the country’s youth and eventually train them as armed fighters of the NPA.

Gabin also revealed that Elago does not keep her salary from Congress. “She only gets P3,000 as allowance, the rest of the pork barrel goes collectively” to the CPP-NPA, which is then used for recruiting young people in rural and urban areas.

Jade Sinco, 26, of Samar, on the other hand, said he was recruited as a member of Kabataan Partylist to organized youth organizations and later became the party’s Secretary General in the province, to direct youth organizations to recruit more and campaign for the election of CPP-NPA underground organizations as a partylist like Gabriela and Bayan Muna.

In February 2018, Sinco said he finally met Elago who even advised him that he should get to the top of “armadong pakikibaka” (armed struggle) for their armed group, the NPA.

Jayson Dizor, also from Samar said that as one of the presidents of the many youth groups in their province, he also ended up being recruited to the Kabataan Partylist. During election campaigns, his task is to tell youth organizations to vote for Kabataan and for Samar farmers “to vote for Bayan Muna.”

Bosantog said the filing of the petition is also a “challenge accepted” from the Makabayan Bloc’s constant call that if the NTF-ELCAC has all the evidence linking their representation to the CPP-NPA, it should file formal charges against them backed by solid evidence.

“This will expose their deceptive practices. Kabataan Partylist is created by CPP-NPA with its nominees all high-ranking (CPP) officials,” Bosantog explained.

He added the task force is also preparing similar petitions against CPP front organizations in Congress, aside from Kabataan and Gabriela. They include Bayan Muna and ACT Teachers Partylist.

Luisa Espina of the Hands Off Our Children (HOOC) said the Kabataan Partylist’s “deceptive recruitment” must be stopped and the political misrepresentation in Congress must not be allowed anymore calling as she also called on other parents not to vote for other CPP-NPA fronts like the Makabayan Bloc partylist members.