Gabriela, Kabataan party-list disqualification sought; Makabayan cries harassment

The Liga Independencia Pilipinas on Monday asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to act on the petition to disqualify the Gabriela and Kabataan party-lists in Eleksyon 2022, claiming that these groups were linked to communist rebels.

It can be recalled that the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) filed a petition in June 2021 asking the poll body to revoke Kabataan party-list's registration.

Another petition was filed in 2019 by the NTF-ELCAC which also sought the disqualification of Gabriela Women's Party.

Liga Independencia Pilipinas had previously protested against alleged communist recruitment, accused the opposition party-lists of "supporting the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army, and receiving foreign funding."

"The Kabataan and Gabriela Partylists are in breach of Section 6 of RA 7941. We urge the Commission on Elections to disqualify these groups for their ties to the CPP-NPA, which attempts to destabilize the government with the ultimate goal of creating a Marxist–Leninist–Maoist tyranny to replace our democratic way of life," Jose Antonio Goitia, secretary general of the group, said.

"The COMELEC must perform its duty to uphold the Constitution and protect the interests of the Filipino people," he added.

Among the members of this organization are parents of students allegedly abducted by youth groups associated with the Kabataan Party-list. But the so-called missing students already denied these allegations.

In response to this, the Makabayan bloc, which includes Gabriela and Kabataan party-list, condemned the NTF-ELCAC's harassment of bloc members, calling the petition "trumped-up."

"This harassment case filed by no less than the government's red-tagging arm is all part of the Duterte regime's ploy to suppress a strong voice in Congress amid rising cases of state-perpetrated human rights abuses," the group of opposition lawmakers said in a statement.

Kabataan Representative Sarah Jane Elago had said they were unfazed over the NTF-ELCAC complaint, adding that they would rather focus on their advocacies.

"Hindi totoo, walang bago, at ilang beses ng binasura ang mga gawa-gawang kaso nila. We're unbothered; super focused now on our constituency work and advocacy campaigns," said Elago.

(This is not true, this is not new and their cases were already dismissed.)

— DVM, GMA News