The Commission on Elections (Comelec) successively disqualified last January the candidacy of democratic and progressive partylist groups while favoring groups headed by political dynasties, including Rodrigo Duterte’s family.

These include the Manggagawa Partylist, Aksyon Health Workers and People’s Surge Partylist, which are all members of the Makabayan coalition. The said groups protested in front of the Comelec offices to criticize the decision last January 23.

At the same time, attacks against known progressive groups under the Makabayan bloc continue. The Court of Appeals recently junked the ACT Teachers Party’s appeal to stop the Philippine National Police (PNP) surveillance and harassment activities against their members. This was in relation to an order to identify and investigate its teacher-members which the PNP considers as “enemies of the state.”

On the other hand, progressive groups called for the disqualification of fake groups run by Duterte. These include the AA-Kasosyo and Duterte Youth. The AA-Kasosyo is headed by Mocha Uson while the Duterte Youth is run by Ronald Cardema, head of the National Youth Commission.

Meanwhile, the group Kontra Daya identified fake partylist groups which the Comelec allowed to run inspite of clear indications that these do not represent any marginalized group and are, in fact, connected to officials of the current government and political dynasties.

This includes current officials and Duterte’s close allies like the Marcoses, Alvarezes, Arroyos, Villars and Piñols.