Akbayan vs. Communists

Op/Ed piece from Malaya by Ducky Paredes (Oct 25): Akbayan vs. Communists

A FORMAL complaint lodged before the Commission on Elections seeks the disqualification of six, highly successful and high-profile party-list groups. Should Bayan Muna, Gabriela, Anakpawis, Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), Kabataan and Katribu be allowed to stand for election as party-list groups seeking seats in the House of Representatives in the 2013 elections, even as they are the “creations” of the CPP-NDF-NPA, which seek the armed overthrow of the our system of government? After all, how can such groups participate in a democratic process (such as the election ) while openly seeking to destroy that very democracy that makes our elections possible? This should make sense even to a fourth-grader.... CPP founding chair Jose Ma. Sison openly admitted in a 1987 speech in Brussels, Belgium that Bagong Alyansang Makabayan or BAYAN, Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), Gabriela, League of Filipino Students (LFS), ACT and KADENA, among others, are components of the CPP-NDF NPA.

The petition argues that these Communist front organizations “serve the purpose and intentions of the CPP in fomenting both the armed and political struggles” and that “despite their entry and participation in the congressional mill, they have not shed off their street protests and marches with signage calling for the destruction of our free and democratic government and booting out of office the duly elected officials of the country.” They point out that KMU’s partylist is Anakpawis, Anakbayan’s and LFS’ partylist is Kabataan, Gabriela’s is Gabriela, hile Bayan’s is Bayan Muna. If these Communist front party-lists are not stricken off by the Comelec or the 2013 election, can we expect the complaining groups to wage a campaign asking democracy-loving Filipinos not to vote for the above?...

Akbayan is a pioneer partylist group. It is one of the few original partylist organizations since 1998, which has consistently defended the interests of the marginalized and underrepresented. It is a multi-sectoral partylist group composed of workers, farmers, women, youth, professionals, LGBT and informal settlers and is firmly committed to our Democracy! Akbayan enjoys popular support from the public. Since 1998, its leaders have been consistently elected in Congress. Akbayan is one of the few political parties that pushed for the passage of the partylist law. While the extreme left like Bayan Muna was still clinging to its ‘boycott election’ policy, Akbayan was already busy pushing for the implementation of the partylist system to encourage the people’s meaningful participation in our electoral exercise and bring the voice of the marginalized to the halls of Congress.... I do not endorse any party-list group but I would never survive a Communist takeover.

http://malaya.com.ph/index.php/opinion/16191-akbayan-vs-communists