Election Disqualification: Another Demolition Job
Government's
demolition job and harassments of progressive party-list groups cannot but
be interpreted as a move to disenfranchise them from the electoral system
– definitely an attack against the party-list system itself. The
state-controlled electoral system is nothing but a mechanism for
entrenching pro-Arroyo candidates in power and one that is hostile not
only to opposition candidates but to groups espousing social and economic
programs inimical to the interests of the powers-that-be.
By the Policy Study, Publication and Advocacy (PSPA) Program
Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG)
Posted by Bulatlat
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One of the major issues with regard to the
2004 elections is how some officials of the Commission on Elections (Comelec)
supposedly connived with Mrs. Gloria M. Arroyo to commit fraud to make
sure she wins the presidency. The public outrage that ensued thereafter
triggered calls for the removal of Arroyo and the revamp of the Comelec so
that future elections would be free and democratic. The call for Comelec
reform remained unheeded and now it looks like the poll body cannot even
intervene in what is beginning to look like attempts by government to
harass opposition candidates – and is itself probably engaged in partisan
politics.
This photo of a
soldier with M-16 rifle at Lower Nawasa, Brgy. Commonwealth, Quezon City
is contradictory to AFP officials' statement that soldiers deployed in urban poor
communities are unarmed.
PHOTO
FROM GABRIELA WOMEN'S PARTY
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This week, military security escorts of
Senate President Manuel Villar, a reelectionist running as a "guest
candidate" of the Genuine Opposition (GO), have been recalled by the Armed
Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for still unknown reasons. Then the AFP
chief of staff, Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, has rooted for the congressional
candidacy of what the Melo Commission named as the prime suspect in the
extra-judicial killings and involuntary disappearances of militant
activists – former Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan. Esperon, himself allegedly
involved in the rigging of the presidential elections in 2004, was
criticized for violating Comelec rules prohibiting public officials and
the AFP from engaging in partisan politics. Similarly, the Comelec has
received flak for accrediting party-list groups that are either not
qualified to represent marginalized sectors or are identified with
politicians and some officials of the poll body.
What is beginning to be a major form of
harassment against anti-Arroyo candidates is the filing of
disqualification cases against three party-list groups. Two separate but
simultaneous "complaints/petitions" have been filed that apparently aim to
shove Bayan Muna (BM or People First), Anakpawis (AP or Toiling Masses),
and Gabriela Women's Party (GWP) out of the coming elections. The case is
clearly politically-motivated using the mode of legal subterfuge.
Moreover, reports say, it is apparently hatched by the executive
department and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) generals with the
probable participation of some Comelec officials.
Filed on Feb. 16 with the Comelec by two
residents of Nueva Ecija claiming to be members of Akbayan party-list, the
"complaints/petitions for special action" sought to disqualify Bayan Muna,
GWP, and Anakpawis from the May elections. The filing was made weeks after
President Arroyo's National Security Adviser, Norberto Gonzales, called
for the disqualification of the progressive party-list groups from the May
elections, repeating his usual slurs that they are "front organizations"
of the Communist Party of the Philippines / New People's Army (CPP/NPA).
Recently, Mrs. Arroyo's legal counsel,
Sergio Apostol, also proposed to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)
to file disqualification cases against BM and the other party-list groups.
"You cannot be part of Congress if you're a leftist," Apostol is reported
to have said.
Melo Commission, UN findings
The case for disqualification has also
surfaced on the heels of findings by the Melo Commission and the UN
Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or involuntary executions,
Philip Alston, about the complicity of military rogues in the series of
political killings, enforced disappearances and other cases of violations
of human rights in the Philippines. About 172 of the 834 victims of
extra-judicial killings reported in 2001 to the present are from BM (with
128), AP (42) and GWP (two). Several others were abducted and reported
missing while scores escaped attempts on their life.
Despite the invectives thrown and the
violent attacks against its members, BM, a recent Pulse Asia voting trends
survey shows, is leading with Gabriela placing third among the party-list
entries. This only goes to show that regardless of whether they are
"leftist" - and despite the fraud, terrorism and vote-shaving - the fact
remains that BM and the other progressive party-list groups have clearly
won the mandate of millions of voters to take their rightful seats in
Congress. Conversely, Gonzales' party-list groups including the
anti-communist ANAD have not won a single seat in any election.
The Comelec on February 23 directed
lawyers of the three party-list groups to answer the petitions in three
days without extension. Aside from the fact that the order was issued on a
Friday thus making it difficult for the lawyers to make an immediate legal
counter-move, the lawyers were told by the poll body – in an unusual act -
to deliver a copy of their answer personally to the petitioners in Curva,
a barangay in Bongabon, Nueva Ecija. Known to be infested with military
informers and paramilitary forces, Bongabon is part of the jurisdiction of
the AFP's Central Luzon Command which Palparan headed before his
retirement from military service. Palparan had been recommended by
Gonzales as deputy adviser for counter-insurgency at the National Security
Council (NSC).
The complaints/petitions for
disqualification of the three party-list groups were filed by Medelyn dela
Torre and Isabelita Nanip Bayudang, both of Bongabon, and who claimed to
be widows of Danilo Felipe and Carlito Bayudang, respectively. Their
prayer cites violations of the RA 7941 specifically for "advocating
violence" and for violating or failing to comply with election laws, rules
or regulations that are attributed to the three party-list groups.
According to Medelyn and Isabelita, Felipe and Bayudang, alleged leaders
of the Samahang Magbubukid ng Bongabon (SMB), were killed by the NPA in
2001 and 2004, respectively, on orders of "Satur Ocampo, Teodoro Casiño,
Liza Maza and Rafael Mariano," leaders and nominees of the three
party-list groups.
A verification of authenticated copies of
the separate petitions seem to lend credence to reactions by leaders of
the three party-list groups that the cases were based on fabricated
allegations and are part of an orchestrated campaign directed by the
President against them. Medelyn and Isabelita claim they were recruited to
the NPA at ages 15 and 14, respectively, a stipulation that is
inconsistent with the NPA's policy of 18 as the minimum age for its
membership. Isabelita claims to have used "Mylene" as her "coda" – an
unlikely term given the underground Left's standard use of " pangalan
sa pakikibaka" (or nom de guerre). Both also stipulated that they and
their husbands were harassed by the NPA and the party-list groups when
they supported Akbayan against Bayan Muna in the 1998 elections. BM first
joined the elections only in 2001, where it emerged the topnotcher, and in
2004, when it repeated the same feat.
Serious, dangerous
The move to disqualify the three
party-list groups is serious and definitely dangerous originating as it is
directly from the presidential office which, as shown in the last 2004
presidential elections, can exert pressure on Comelec to toe its line.
Norberto Gonzales and Apostol can be cited for violating Comelec rules
banning government officials from engaging in partisan politics but
nothing has been done about this.
The case also appears to be the
President's legal and political move to neutralize progressive party-list
groups from the whole party-list system and any favorable ruling that the
Comelec will issue can be used to justify the escalation of extra-judicial
killings and other forms of political persecution against the same groups.
This is akin to – and supports – the vilification campaign launched in
2002 by Gonzales and AFP officials against BM and the other party-list
groups where they were labeled as "front organizations" of the CPP/NPA.
Physical attacks against them started to mount that period. This was
followed in early 2006 by trumped-up rebellion charges and the issuance of
warrants of arrest against Ocampo and five other party-list leaders as
well as scores of other individuals.
The noose against the progressive
party-list groups will tighten with the anticipated signing of the
anti-terrorism bill or Human Security Act of 2007 by de facto President
Arroyo. The Act is expected to be used by government to give legitimacy to
the political repression of the likes of BM and other adversarial groups
under the framework of the counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism
strategy. Already, there have been reports of these progressive party-list
groups and their allied parties being prevented by government troops and
paramilitary forces from campaigning in many areas. Streams and posters
are being posted once again labeling them as "communist terrorists" and
"enemies of the state."
For a government whose human rights record
has been found to be malevolent, it would be a foregone conclusion to say
that its implementation of the anti-terrorism act is bound to be a worst
humanitarian catastrophe.
Government's
demolition job and harassments of the party-list groups cannot but be
interpreted as a move to disenfranchise them from the electoral system –
definitely an attack against the constitutionally-enshrined party-list
system itself. It further exposes the state-controlled electoral system as
nothing but a mechanism for entrenching pro-Arroyo candidates in power and
one that is hostile not only to opposition candidates but to groups
espousing social and economic programs inimical to the interests of the
powers-that-be. Cenpeg/posted by Bulatlat
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