The results of the recently concluded May 9 national elections revealed what looked like the generally waning support of the public to the Makabayang Koalisyon ng Mamamayan (Makabayan) bloc in Congress, and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) may have had a lot to do with that.
It was no secret that the government’s anti-communist task force actively campaigned against the Left-leaning progressive bloc. On social media, the task force refers to Makabayan bloc as “KABAG” (stomach ache in English) to represent the five partylist groups that joined the 2022 polls – Kabataan, Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), Bayan Muna, Anakpawis, and Gabriela.
Social media served as a primary platform for the task force to deliver damning messages about the bloc’s alleged ties to communist organizations particularly the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) – New People’s Army – National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).
National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr., who is also the vice-chairman of NTF-ELCAC, said that the anti-communist task force has been “effective” in “unmasking” the Makabayan bloc’s supposed link to the CPP-NPA-NDF "triad," an allegation that the bloc’s leaders have vehemently denied in the past.
“I would say very much but I must say it’s ultimately the people who have decided,” Esperon said.
“No matter what we have done at NTF-ELCAC, in the end, it’s still the Filipino votes that would matter. But of course, the votes of the Filipino people have been influenced by many factors. For the partylists where we have the Makabayan bloc, the figures show,” he added.
The figures
Under the Republic Act 7941 or the Party-List System Act, a partylist group automatically secures one seat in the Congress if it gathers at least two percent of the total votes cast during an election.
Meanwhile, a partylist group that exceeded the two-percent threshold is entitled to an additional seat, provided that it will not exceed the maximum three seats that are allowed per group.
For partylist groups that did not meet the threshold, they can still secure a seat once the Comelec distributes the remaining seats based on the order of percentage of votes. There are 63 seats that are allotted for partylist representatives in the Lower House.
But only the Kabataan, Gabriela, and ACT Teachers have good chances of securing at least one seat in the House of Representatives for the Makabayan bloc. These partylists represent the youth, women, and teachers’ sectors, respectively.
Based on the latest partial and official tally of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) as of May 17, Kabataan ranked 14th out of 177 partylist groups that participated in the elections. It obtained 536,007 votes or 1.4781 percent of the total 55.4 million votes cast.
Meanwhile, Gabriela was in the 21st place with 422,765 votes (1.1658 percent) and ACT Teachers ranked 35th with 329,693 votes (0.9092 percent).
Bayan Muna, the primary partylist group of the Makabayan bloc, was at the tailend of the cutoff at 64th place with 217,745 votes (0.6005 percent) while Anakpawis, which represents workers and peasants, was at the distant 118th place with 81,285 votes (0.2242 percent).
Save for Kabataan, the Makabayan bloc’s performance in the 2022 polls was a letdown compared in the past polls.
In the 2019 midterm elections for example, Esperon said Bayan Muna had obtained 1,112,979 votes. This means that it resulted to a loss of around 895,000 votes in 2022.
Gabriela had 446,995 votes while ACT Teachers collected 394,281 votes in 2019. Both lost 24,000 and 64,000 votes, respectively in 2022.
For Kabataan, the lone spark of the bloc, it garnered 146,283 votes in 2019 and gained around 389,000 votes in 2022.
Esperon said that in the 2007 elections, the Makabayan bloc had eight representatives in the Congress. Since then, he noted that a steady decline had been observed as Makabayan had seven representatives in the 2010, 2013, and 2016 elections respectively; and six in 2019.
“This 2022, at most they will only have three ,” Esperon said.
Strategies
The massive vote losses suffered by the Makabayan bloc in 2022 was attributed by Esperon to the NTF-ELCAC’s efforts to “unmask” their alleged connection, particularly as “front organizations,” to the CPP-NPA-NDF.
“The NTF-ELCAC had been unmasking the true nature, the duplicitous nature of CPP-NPA-NDF. Along with our unmasking of their true identity, we also dismantle the guerilla fronts where they operate,” Esperon said.
He said the NTF-ELCAC had deconstructed 51 out of the total 68 guerilla fronts of the CPP-NPA-NDF nationwide which included groups supporting the front organizations. Meanwhile, the remaining 17 guerilla fronts were deemed “weakened.”
The NTF-ELCAC also said that the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP) has benefitted around 25,000 former rebels. Under this program, rebels who returned to the folds of the law are given various assistance so they can be reintegrated to the mainstream society and lead new, normal, and transformed lives.
The NTF-ELCAC has also introduced its flagship program, the Barangay Development Program (BDP), in 2019. Under this program, each barangay is “freed” from communist influence through continuous military operations. Once “cleared,” a barangay is entitled to get a P20-million socio-economic development package for the establishment of farm-to-market roads, health units, schools, electrification system, livelihood programs, and water and sanitation systems.
Esperon said 822 barangays that were former guerilla bases were given P20 million each in 2021, and 2,356 barangays are targeted to be included in the list of beneficiaries from 2022 to 2023.
All these programs contributed to the weakening of the operations of the CPP-NPA-NDF and their front organizations, Esperon said.
“That means winning support. They have been unmasked and... mawawala na sila dahil ‘yung barangays na nilalaruan nila, kung saan sila may guerilla bases ay made-develop na namin (they will be gone because the barangays where they established their guerilla bases will now be developed),” he explained.
Esperon also said that the NTF-ELCAC “is not worried” that the lack of representation of the Makabayan bloc in the Congress might result to more aggressive actions from Leftist groups.
“Ano naman ang ipo-protesta nila? Dapat ay makapasok sila? Mali naman ata ‘yun dahil bumoto na ang ating mga kababayan (What are they going to protest? That they should be elected? I think it’s wrong because the people have voted),” he said.
“Kung maging agresibo man sila sa pagpoprotesta (Should they get aggressive in their protests), as long as they stay within the bounds of the law, it’s okay. We can deal with them,” he added.
Moving forward
As a new administration is set to enter in June, Esperon believes that it is crucial for the incoming president to strengthen the role of the NTF-ELCAC so that the government’s campaign against communist insurgency will be intensified.
“In the future, the CPP-NPA and its legal front organizations will be minor irritants. Within one year, you can see that. By June of this year, we will dismantle more guerilla fronts so they will lose their bases,” he said.
The top security adviser of the Duterte administration noted that it will take another three years before the Makabayan bloc could push for their advocacies in the Congress.
“By gaining seats in the Congress, it means they will have to wait for another three years. For the meantime, hindi namin sila lulubayan (we will continue to haunt them),” Esperon said. (Martin A. Sadongdong)