By Fides Lim
The latest lie about Comelec’s disqualification of Bayan Muna is a tired gimmick. But it’s revealing and dangerous as it’s clearly meant to confuse voters and eliminate one of the strongest opposition voices before election day today.
Why bayan muna is targeted
Bayan Muna has consistently challenged corruption, exposed human rights abuses, fought for the people and paid the ultimate sacrifice. That’s exactly why it’s again being targeted: Because it walks the talk, because it fights where it matters. Because it takes risks, no matter the cost.
And for that, it has become the enemy of those who profit from silence and submission.
A history written in sacrifice
Since its founding in 1999, Bayan Muna holds the grim record for the most number of members killed in the line of duty among any political party in the Philippines, simply for standing up for people and country.
I’ve personally known some of these first martyrs of Bayan Muna. I would see them at Bayan Muna national conventions and it pains me to see their names roll down a memorial screen whenever a big meeting comes around.
They were not insurgents. They were legal workers: local officials, lawyers, activists. They were first red-tagged in leaflets and posters, then murdered, usually by motorcycle-riding gunmen. That very method has since become the template for political killings.
Murder they wrote
The killings began shortly after Bayan Muna topped the 2001 elections. Mindoro was the first laboratory of repression.
Some incidents:
• April 8, 2002, Bayan Muna coordinator Expedito Albarillo was tied and dragged out of his hut in San Teodoro, Oriental Mindoro by soldiers. Both he and wife Manuela were shot dead.
• May 28, 2002, Bayan Muna coordinator Edilberto “Choy” Napoles was gunned down at high noon just a few steps away from the Bayan Muna office in Calapan City.
• February 13, 2004, Naujan Vice Mayor and Bayan Muna local leader Juvy Magsino was shot dead with Karapatan Mindoro Oriental secretary general Leima Fortu while riding a tricycle in Barcenaga, Naujan town, Mindoro Oriental.
One member I can’t forget because he was so softspoken is human rights lawyer Felidito Dacut, Bayan Muna–Eastern Visayas regional coordinator. On March 14, 2005, while on board a multicab in Tacloban to buy milk for his baby daughter, two motorcycle-riding men wearing ski masks shot him dead.
Summary of political killings
2001–2004
• 49 Bayan Muna members and leaders killed
• 10 abducted
By Mid-2006
• 95 local Bayan Muna officials assassinated (reported)
• 28 killed in 2005 alone
• Dozens more abducted or harassed
As of January 2025
• Over 200 Bayan Muna members and leaders killed since 1999
• Most cases remain unresolved
• Killings linked to political repression and militarization
Who benefits from fake news? Who benefits from repression?
The same powerful interests that fear truth and loathe an informed, organized, empowered electorate. The same forces that murder activists and now smear their memory because they profit from fear, silence, and division.
Tumiklop ba ang bayan muna dahil sa mga atake?
I know Bayan Muna lost some of its luster when in 2010, it supported Manny Villar’s presidential run, with BBM on the senate slate. I was against this and I wasn’t the only one. I supported Noynoy Aquino, and I arranged a meeting between him and Satur Ocampo, Bayan Muna president and first party-list representative. That Makati meeting failed because Noynoy couldn’t rise above his biases in favor of conciliation.
In 2016, contrary to some critics, Bayan Muna supported Grace Poe, not Duterte. Mar Roxas had canceled himself out when he shut the door on dialogue with the left. A brief opening under Duterte was explored for temporary Cabinet posts and the important release of political prisoners.
Tumiwalag ba ang bayan muna sa kanyang pangalan?
Despite these moments of engagement—even with administrations it strongly opposed—Bayan Muna never betrayed its name and surrendered its principles. It has always known where to hold the line, and to hold it fast.
Sometime in 2006 or 2007, a senior Inquirer writer told me the Macapagal-Arroyo government had Bayan Muna investigated how it spends its pork barrel funds. Citing the National Security Adviser: “Wala silang makitang anomalya. Nagulat pa sila na yung schools na pinatayo ng Bayan Muna, meron pang blackboard pati eraser.”
Bayan Muna eventually gave up the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), allocated to members of Congress to fund small-scale infrastructure or community projects. But I wish it had not. Because while others diverted the funds for personal gain, Bayan Muna built schools, clinics, roads, community centers, and wharfs in remote barangays.
This may be the last chance
On May 12, 2025, Bayan Muna’s very existence is on the line. After its first-ever loss in 2022, due to a state stratagem of red-tagging and cheating (according to an insider, “sa barangay pa lang, pinondohan ito ng milyones para matalo”), a second straight defeat means automatic disqualification from running again in 2028.
That’s exactly what its enemies want: to shut down Bayan Muna at the ballot box after failing to silence it with bullets.
Why vote for Bayan Muna?
I had the privilege of coining the name Bayan Muna, and (husband) Vic (Ladlad) and I were among its founding members, alongside Satur Ocampo, Neri Colmenares, Dr. Runie Lesaca, and many others from various sectors and regions who believed in building a parliamentary party that would truly put the people first. We remain grateful to all who pitched their support to bring that vision to life.
On May 12, please vote Bayan Muna, No. 59 on the election ballot for party-list.
Please support the only party-list that has paid the price of its principles with real sacrifice, not just promises. That has stood by the poor, the workers, the farmers, the youth—even when it meant demonization, imprisonment, or death. That has proven public funds can be used to build schools, clinics, river landings, not personal fortunes and political dynasties. That has never betrayed, never abandoned the people.
Let’s keep Bayan Muna alive. Because it has always stood for us. #
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The author is the convenor and spokesperson of political prisoner support group Kapatid.
