"Akbayan retaliated and urged the Comelec (Commission on Elections) to disqualify what they call “communist party-list groups” — obviously referring to Bayan Muna and its allied groups. Akbayan further claimed that the “communist party-list group” or Bayan Muna had diverted about P770 million in pork barrel funds to support the communist New People’s Army (NPA)."I don't know where he got this information but this is completely wrong. The groups that moved for the disqualification of Bayan Muna are the New Guardians for Freedom and Democracy, Inc. (NGI), PEACE Inc. and Pro Democracy Foundation of the Philippines (Pro-Dem). AKBAYAN even released a statement denying any connection to the effort to disqualify Bayan Muna and has stated it will not petition the COMELEC to disqualify Bayan Muna because
"While we have found reason to disagree with Bayan Muna and their affiliates on a range of issues such as CARPER and human rights abuses committed by non-state actors, and despite the malicious campaign they waged against us, Akbayan has no intention of adopting the same deplorable tactics."The news regarding the petition to disqualify Bayan Muna was published in late October, the AKBAYAN statement denying any connection to that effort was released October 27. Mr. Esposo's column was published November 25, 1 month after the news and clarifications were released, and he still made the error.
Mr. Esposo should double check his facts before putting them on paper.
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