Fraud is the hallmark of elections under the reactionary state in the Philippines. This was once again demonstrated in the recent elections where manipulation of the vote results was widespread, systematic, and brazen to favor the ruling puppet Marcos regime.

In the face of numerous anomalies and failures of the Commission on Elections and Miru Systems’ vote counting system, a large part of the public do not believe that the election results reflect the true votes of the people. Since the start of computerized counting in the Philippines, fraud has reached unprecedented levels, with widespread vote padding and shaving that no one gets to see or understand, except for the ruling clique and the private foreign company that created the system, which is not open to public scrutiny.

Other forms of electoral fraud are also rampant, such as vote buying, use of public funds (especially in the distribution of government aid), violence and intimidation, and Red-tagging.

The Marcos regime maintained its majority control of the Senate and House of Representatives. Through its control of Congress, Marcos will surely push for a budget, laws, and programs that follow the dictates of foreign banks and companies, which will burden and oppress the people. This dominance in Congress will surely be used to protect the interests of the Marcos clique.

The US imperialists extensively interfered in the Philippine elections. It is deeply concerned about the worsening political crisis of the ruling system, in the face of the intensifying conflict between the Marcos and Duterte cliques. In particular, amid the worsening economic crisis and growing public anger, it is concerned with the increasing isolation of its puppet Marcos, and strengthening of the Duterte clique, which is being used by its rival China to deepen its influence in the Philippines.

The US used its power, influence, and connections with its agents in politics, business, media, church, and other sectors to create a “third force” composed of parties and politicians friendly to the US, currently aligned with the Liberal-Akbayan-Pink (LAP) coalition. Political accommodations were made to ensure that its candidates would lead in the Senate and party-list system, to be used as a counterweight against the Duterte clique in the 2028 elections.

It exerted pressure on Marcos to carry the LAP’s senatorial candidates, Bam Aquino and Francis Pangilinan. The spokesperson of Marcos’ party admitted that they thoroughly supported the candidacy of the two. At the same time, LAP stalwart Leni Robredo made a deal with the Iglesia ni Cristo for it to carry Aquino, in exchange for her endorsement of Rodante Marcoleta, a known Duterte attack dog, especially against ABS-CBN in 2020. Everyone was “surprised” that Aquino and Pangilinan got the second and fifth spots (from 13th place down in the surveys). The Marcos clique, LAP, and their supporters in the academe, media, and church are concocting a convoluted narrative to explain this “surprise”, in an attempt to douse the movement against fraud and dirty politics with cold water.

Like in the previous elections, US imperialism pushed for the Marcos regime’s all-out campaign against patriotic and progressive groups that ran for the senate and party-list. It used the NTF-Elcac, military, and police, and the entire state resources to carry out widespread Red-tagging, intimidation, filing of fabricated cases, arrests, and killings. To justify the political repression, Marcos used the fascist reasoning that these groups form an “insurgency in electoral disguise,” in an attempt to close all avenues for democratic expression.

As in previous years, they were targeted by the systematic reduction of votes of progressive party-lists using the computerized counting system. The US and its puppet Marcos regime support pro-US reformist groups like Akbayan, which they deceptively describe as “Left” to lead the people away from the path of genuine patriotism and democratic change. The goal is to silence all those who speak out against the increasing US military intervention in the Philippines, and how the country is being used as a large military base for stationing thousands of American troops and deploying weapons as part of its war preparations against China.

Despite this, these groups were able to launch a nationwide campaign. They clearly carried the program to advance the national and democratic aspirations of the people, and the calls for living wages and salaries, jobs, lower prices of food and oil, and other urgent demands and needs of workers, peasants, and other oppressed and exploited sectors of Philippine society. By participating in the elections, they were able to challenge, expose, and criticize the rule of the bureaucratic capitalists, comprador bourgeoisie, and landlord class.

The recent elections in the country once again showed that there is no true democracy in the Philippines. The reactionary government is only adorned with the trappings of a democratic political content, where only parties and candidates with vast amounts of money to buy power are the ones who can truly play.

History shows that revolutionary struggle is necessary to achieve genuine change that the Filipino people aspire for. The goal of the revolution is to seize political power from the ruling classes, to build a truly democratic government that represents the interests of the people. The oppressed classes need to take hold of state power to implement changes in the economy and social system in favor of the people.

This change can only be achieved through revolutionary armed struggle, as the primary form of struggle, along with other forms of resistance. By advancing the protracted people’s war to crush the enemy’s strength part by part, the New People’s Army and the masses are step by step building a new democratic government and a new social system, where the masses benefit from the wealth they create.

The Filipino people and their revolutionary forces are persevering on the path of armed struggle with the determination to advance and achieve victory in the future. Nothing can stop them from fulfilling their historical task of achieving national liberation and true democracy.