‘Voters rejected left-leaning party-list groups’

‘Voters rejected left-leaning party-list groups’ – Parlade

A ranking official of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict said Sunday the dismal performance of militant party-list groups in the May 13 midterm polls showed the public has seen through their “duplicitous nature.”

“The people are not stupid, and now they know about the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army and their allies’ duplicitous nature,” said Maj. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr., who is also the Armed Forces of the Philippine Deputy chief-of-staff for Civil-Military Operations.

Parlade also questioned the left-leaning party-list groups for not denouncing the atrocities and violence committed by the CPP-NPA.

“No matter what they will say about their loss, one thing is clear: They have not denounced the violence of the CPP-NPA and their terroristic activities,” he said.

“Their dismal performance during the election is a vindication for the truth. Their lies and duplicity have been exposed,” Parlade added.

While the administration-allied Anti-Crime and Terrorism Community Involvement and Support garnered the most number of votes at 2,609,055 based on the partial, unofficial tally from 98.25 percent of the election returns, the progressive group Bayan Muna came in second with 1,108,995.

ACT-CIS and Bayan Muna are two of eight party-list groups that were able to get at least 2 percent of the total number of votes cast for the system to entitle them to one seat in the House of Representatives.

With 9.48 percent of the total votes cast, ACT-CIS will have three seats in Congress while Bayan Muna will have at least two seats.

The other party-list groups that met the minimum requirement of 2 percent for one seat are Ako Bicol (3.79 percent), Cibac (3.35 percent), Ang Probinsyano (2.78 percent), 1Pacman (2.58 percent), Marino (2.45 percent), and Probinsyano Ako (2.28 percent).