Posts on Facebook (FB) are claiming that the Bayan Muna party-list group will be permanently disqualified by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) if it fails to secure a House seat in the May 12 midterm elections. This is false.
On Feb. 12, a reader requested VERA Files Fact Check to verify a claim made by an FB page and a user which continue to circulate this week. All the posts bore the following text:
“If Bayan Muna fails to win a seat in 2025, it will be permanently disqualified. This CPP (Communist Party of the Philippines) front has no place in Congress — let’s make sure it’s their last run! #BanBayanMuna4Ever”
This is not true, according to Comelec’s Feb. 21 response to VERA Files Fact Check.
The election body said it may only cancel or refuse the registration of any national, regional or sectoral party-list groups on grounds of failure to get at least 2% of the votes cast – the minimum needed to secure a seat in the House – for the party-list system for two preceding election years.
If Bayan Muna fails to reclaim a seat in the 20th Congress this upcoming election, the party will be delisted. But the commission clarified that it will not be permanently disqualified. “Section 2 of Comelec Resolution No. 9366 instructs that party-list groups may file anew a verified petition for registration,” it said.
Bayan Muna had an unsuccessful reelection bid in the 2022 party-list race, a first in 20 years. Former Bayan Muna representative Carloz Zarate said in an interview that year their defeat was because of the “massive black propaganda, vilification and red-tagging” led by then president Rodrigo Duterte.
Members of Bayan Muna have long been victims of red-tagging, an intimidation practice of labeling left-leaning groups as front organizations of anti-democratic groups, as defined in a 2023 Supreme Court decision in favor of a former Bayan Muna representative.
Red-tagging on an election year is not new. In 2022, VERA Files Fact Check debunked a barrage of claims associating prominent women political figures and celebrities with the CPP and its armed wing, the New People’s Army.
The Comelec recently issued new guidelines on anti-discrimination and fair campaigning, stating that labeling – such as red-tagging – and other discriminatory practices are now considered punishable offenses.
The spurious FB posts emerged a day after the official start of the 90-day campaign period for national candidates in the May 12 midterm elections.
FB page Decoding Red (created on Dec. 31, 2020) and another user published the posts with the erroneous claim, collectively garnering over 1,000 reactions, 160 comments and 2,500 shares.
