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The Party-List System Act excludes any organization that ‘advocates violence or unlawful means to seek its goal.’ Makabayan’s member-organizations are accredited by the Commission on Elections.
Claim: Lawmakers from the Makabayan bloc — Gabriela Representative Arlene Brosas, Kabataan Representative Raoul Manuel, and ACT Teachers Representative France Castro — are affiliated with the New People’s Army (NPA), the military arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
Rating: FALSE
Why we fact-checked this: The X (formerly Twitter) post bearing the claim was uploaded on November 14 by an account with 1,358 followers. As of writing, it has 44,200 views, 915 likes, 122 comments, and 307 reposts.
Attached to the post were images of the three lawmakers along with the caption: “It is alarming to see our leaders being questioned by NPA affiliates. The House of Representatives tolerates this, and it is very disturbing.”
The bottom line: Gabriela, ACT Teachers, and Kabataan are members of the Makabayan bloc, a political coalition of progressive party-list groups accredited by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
Its member organizations and representatives have been participating in several elections as they meet criteria set out in Section 6 of Republic Act No. 7941 or the Party-List System Act, which excludes from registration any organization that “advocates violence or unlawful means to seek its goal.”
The Comelec has also repeatedly rejected several petitions to cancel the party-list registration of the political coalition’s member organizations over supposed ties with the CPP-NPA, citing lack of evidence.
Red-tagging targets: This was not the first time the Makabayan bloc leaders, staunch critics of former president Rodrigo Duterte’s policies, have been red-tagged. The Makabayan lawmakers have consistently denied claims linking them to the communist group. (READ: Principles and compromises: How Makabayan survived under Duterte)
The post was uploaded after Brosas, Manuel, and Castro interrogated Duterte during a November 13 House quad committee hearing on his administration’s bloody war on drugs.
The former president previously told the Senate that he takes “full legal responsibility” for the drug war, but maintained that the killings by police officers were only made in self defense. (READ: Duterte’s violent war on drugs, as recorded by rights groups, int’l bodies)
Rappler has already debunked several posts red-tagging Makabayan bloc members:
– Kyle Marcelino/Rappler.com
Kyle Marcelino is a graduate of Rappler’s fact-checking mentorship program. This fact check was reviewed by a member of Rappler’s research team and a senior editor. Learn more about Rappler’s fact-checking mentorship program here.
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