Friday, April 26, 2019

Leftist party-list groups lead survey due to ‘deception’: city dad

From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 26, 2019): Leftist party-list groups lead survey due to ‘deception’: city dad


Cebu City Councilor Pastor “Jun” Alcover Jr. (Photo from Councilor Alcover's FB page)

A former communist leader-turned-democracy defender on Friday said left-leaning party-list groups that topped a recent survey as most preferred for the May 13 mid-term elections are those that have “mastered the art of deception and propaganda” and making noise in protest rallies.

Former Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy (ANAD) party-list representative, now Cebu City Councilor Pastor “Jun” Alcover Jr. said communist-linked party-list groups have active propaganda war machinery used to discuss critical issues in the society.

Although deceptive, Alcover said the propaganda has been used to their advantage.


”They have mastered the art of deception. Wala nato na siya ma-expose kanang ilang character nga ingon niana (We failed to expose such kind of character that they have),” he said.

He recalled that in 2013, Bayan Muna and other leftist party-list groups successfully mounted a propaganda campaign to disqualify ANAD, a pro-democracy and pro-government party-list group, through a “deceptive complaint” that the group failed to file a statement of contribution and expenditures.

Alcover was reacting to the latest survey results by Pulse Asia which showed Bayan Muna as the most preferred party-list group in the May 13 elections. According to the survey conducted from March 23 to 27 among 1,800 adult respondents, Bayan Muna got an 8.50 percent voter preference.

Bayan Muna is followed by the Magsasaka sa Sakahan, Kaunlaran (Magsasaka) with 6.45 percent voter preference and Gabriela, 6.04 percent.

Under the party-list system in the country, a group that garners 2 percent of the number of votes cast for the party-list system can send one representative to the House of Representatives, and 2 percent more means an additional seat, with a ceiling of only three representations.

Alcover said Bayan Muna members are very active in rallies, which may make them well-known to the people who always see them on the streets.

“Kusog ang name-recall sa Bayan Muna kay kusog man kaayo silang magsaba-saba sa mga rally. Kun magsabasaba ka, mailhan gyud ka sa mga tawo (Bayan Muna is very good at making noise in the rallies. If you are creating noise, you can easily be well-known to the people),” he added.

He took notice that the government’s counter-propaganda on issues being tackled by the CPP-NPA linked party-list groups are not enough.

“Kuwang ta og counter-moves (We lack counter-moves). We are very reactionary. We are not consistent in our information drive on legitimate issues,” Alcover said.

He added that the war against Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) and its legal fronts can only be won if the government will give importance to its propaganda war machinery.

"In this kind of war, propaganda plays a very important role. Whoever wins in the propaganda shall win the war,” he added.

In the May 13 mid-term elections, a total of 134 party-list groups are eyeing a seat in the House of Representatives including some 12 party-list groups under the left-leaning Makabayan bloc.

Among the prominent groups under the Makabayan bloc are Bayan Muna, Gabriela, Alliance of Concerned Teachers, Anakpawis, Kabataan and Migrante.

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Deputy Chief-of-Staff for Civil-Military Operations, Major Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr., has continually unmasked the truth about the communist front organizations, such as the Makabayan bloc and other leftist groups which were even tagged by Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria “Joma” Sison himself in revolutionary websites, verbal pronouncements, and CPP publications.

Parlade said members of the Makabayan bloc and others leftist groups such as Bayan Muna, Karapatan and Ibon “paint any administration as oppressive and tyrant, even by fabricating lies like the 27,000 EJKs (extra judicial killings) from PRRD’s (President Rodrigo R. Duterte) drug war“.

0n April 13, Parlade scored Bayan Muna Party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate who accused him of targeting the Makabayan bloc because he is allegedly eyeing the top AFP post.

Parlade said the Makabayan bloc and cohorts in the CPP-NPA-NDF terrorist group “have survived because of the lies and deceptions peddled each day”.

“These lies and duplicity have destroyed the lives and the future of so many students whose minds you have poisoned. Of late, many of them are from senior high school and are minors. Their poor parents can only cry and beg us to help recover their children before they go up to the mountains and join the NPA,” he said.

“You have destroyed our institutions, corrupted our justice system, shooed away investments to pursue your National Democratic Revolution. But you intend to supplant this government with your “proletarian dictatorship” (see your detestable so-called CPP Constitution and Programs May 2017, Art 7 Sec 3). That’s your classic revolutionary dual tactics: to use democracy to destroy democracy. to join the church to destroy it. That’s what you did with the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines. You profess to defend human rights and IP culture but actually divided the Lumad families through your Salugpungan schools. Are these the things that Makabayan Bloc is proud of?” he added.

The CPP-NPA, which has been waging a five-decade armed struggle, is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1068313

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