Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Duterte claims some party-lists acting as NPA’s ‘legal front’

From ABS-CBN (Mar 30, 2022): Duterte claims some party-lists acting as NPA’s ‘legal front’


Protesters call on the government to stop the red-tagging of activists and journalists but instead focus on the COVID-19 response during a protest in Mendiola in Manila on Friday, February 5, 2021. ABS-CBN News/File photo

President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday blasted the country's party-list system, saying it allows too many sectors to have a say in government, including communists.

"Totoo 'yan, nakapasok sila sa Congress. The party-list. Eh alam mo, bright kasi 'yung gumawa noon eh," Duterte said in a taped public briefing. (That's true, they have infiltrated Congress. The party-list. The one who made this law was bright.)


While Duterte named the party-lists in the public briefing, ABS-CBN News did not post them in this article until his allegations are independently verified.

Without evidence, Duterte said these groups are legal fronts of the CPP and its armed wing, the New People's Army.

"Makita naman ninyo sa behavior nila and the way they espouse their advocacy for a left ... Left ang talagang drift nila," he said. (You can see from their behavior and the way they espouse their advocacy for a leftist approach.)

"Ang problema, they are supporting ... They are really legal fronts ng Communist Party of the Philippines. (The problem is, they are supporting ... They are really legal fronts of the Communist Party of the Philippines.)

Duterte also said these party-lists are espousing to "end this government".

"And they are espousing an advocacy that in the end ang gusto nila, tapusin itong gobyerno na ito. This government was not imposed upon the people. This government was created or established through legal means. Noon pa, noong nag-republic tayo," he said. (And they are espousing an advocacy that in the end will finish this government. This government was not imposed upon the people. This government was created or established through legal means, way before, when we became a republic.)

"Ang problema ginagamit nila ang pera, kinukuha nila ang pera ng gobyerno at binubuhay nila ang NPA. They are supporting a bunch of ... Wala na silang ideology," Duterte added. (The problem is they are using government funds to support the NPA. They are supporting a bunch of people with no ideology.)

Established in 1995 through Republic Act 7941 or the Party-list System Act, the party-list system "is a mechanism of proportional representation in the election of representatives to the House of Representatives from national, regional and sectoral parties or organizations or coalitions thereof registered with the Commission on Elections (Comelec)."


This is not the first time Duterte claimed that the progressive party-lists in the House of Representatives are "legal fronts" for the CPP-NPA. Back in 2017, he threatened to arrest members of its legal fronts, following the collapse of the peace talks between the government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

READ: Duterte threatens to order arrest of Left's ‘legal fronts’
READ: Palace: Members of Left's 'legal fronts' can be arrested for 'conspiracy' with NPA

Duterte, a former student of Communist Party of the Philippines founding chairman Jose Maria Sison, had sought to end the nearly 50-year communist insurgency early in his term, even appointing left-leaning individuals to his Cabinet as a demonstration of warming ties between government and the communist movement.

Government officials and negotiators from the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) had 4 rounds of talks in Europe, where Sison is based, before Duterte suspended negotiations in May 2017.

READ: Duterte to consider CPP-NPA-NDF as terrorist group

The talks, however, were stalled following armed clashes between government troops and communist guerrillas.

The Makabayan bloc of lawmakers, whose members are often victims of red-tagging, have repeatedly denied links with the CPP-NPA.

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/03/30/22/duterte-claims-some-party-lists-acting-as-npas-legal-front

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