By Daisy CL Mandap
 |
| Makabayan HK says thanks despite its unexpected poor showing in the recent polls |
Shaking off an unexpectedly poor turnout in Hong Kong for their candidates, supporters
of the Makabayan political bloc in the Philippines had a victory and
thanksgiving party at Repulse Bay on May 27.
As most
of their leaders said at the gathering, “Hindi sa eleksyon nagtatapos ang
lahat. Ituloy ang laban.”
But they
also had reasons to celebrate. Their perennial top-drawer among the
party-lists, Bayan Muna, still won three seats in Congress, although it
surprisingly took a backseat to newbie pro-administration group, ACT-CIS, in
the national vote.
“That
was a real surprise, as Bayan Muna consistently ranked first in the surveys,”
said Makabayan Hong Kong spokesperson Eman Villanueva.
Other
affiliated groups, Gabriela, ACT Teachers and Kabataan each won a seat, but a
fourth, Anakpawis, failed to garner enough votes to regain its Congress slot.
It was a
hard-fought win, as the leftist bloc came under heavy red-tagging campaign by
pro-administration candidates during the election period.
 |
| The leftist bloc vows to fight on |
But Makabayan’s
attempt to secure a seat in the Senate through former Rep. Neri Colmenares,
failed anew.
In Hong
Kong, the trouncing was more severe, as Colmenares came only at no 21, way
below the 12 winning slots, but still ahead than all the opposition candidates
who ran under the Otso Diretso banner.
In the party-list vote, Bayan Muna was relegated only to the fifth slot, after ACT CIS, the Jesus Is Lord-backed CIBAC or Citizens Battle Against Corruption, the pro-administration’s AA Kasosyo, and Sagip, which was pushed by the Iglesia Ni Cristo church.
It was
the first time since overseas elections were held in 2004 that the top
party-list slot was not won by the leftist bloc.
In a
statement released a day after the election on May 13, Villanueva denounced what
he called the “dirty, deadly, deceptive elections by a desperate Duterte.”
The
statement alleged that the Duterte administration had pulled out all stops to
ensure victory, especially in the Senate, through vote buying, intimidation of
opponents, and patronage politics.
These
allegedly happened on top of some electronic tampering that ensured a
near-sweep of the elections by pro-administration candidates.
Still, Villanueva
said that while it was the dirtiest elections since the time of the late
dictator Ferdinand E, Marcos, it also forged unity among the opposition.
“The
recent elections have shown how opposition to the administration is spreading
across political parties and blocs,” he said.
Indeed,
this appeared to be the case in Hong Kong, when Makabayan campaigners often had
to link arms with supporters of Otso Diretso, as they had four common
candidates for the Senate.
At the
victory party, a big group of Otso supporters also came to show solidarity and echo
calls for further cooperation to stop what they see as a looming dictatorship
by President Duterte.
 |
| A nationalistic beauty contest to lighten the mood |
But it
was not all serious talk at the beachfront party, as about 100 Makabayan
volunteers and their guests played games, shared a hearty lunch, swam, and even staged a beauty
and talent contest.
===
I-TRY MO ITO, KATRIBO!
Mas madali nang tawagan ang mga advertiser natin dito. Pindutin lang ang kanilang ad at lalabas ang automatic dialer. Isa pang pindot ay matatawagan mo ang advertiser na hindi na kailangang i-dial ang numero nila. I-try mo!
