(Eagle News) — Members of the Makabayan bloc on Thursday announced they would be leaving the House of Representatives’ supermajority, saying it “would be a violation of (their) duties and principles” if they remained.
In a statement, ACT Teachers Reps. Antonio Tinio and France Castro, Kabataan Rep. Sarah Elago, Anakpawis Rep. Ariel Casilao, Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate, and Gabriela Reps. Emmi de Jesus and Arlene Brosas said they decided to bolt the House majority coalition, as they claimed it now “enables and defends the fascist, pro-imperialist and anti-people policies of (President Rodrigo Duterte’s) regime.”
For this, the militant lawmakers noted Duterte’s independent policy, which they alleged “turned out to be a farce.”
“He is now as dependent as ever on the (United States) for national security, and has practically abandoned our valid and internationally recognized claims of sovereignty and territory in the West Philippine Sea in exchange for China’s promises of aid and investments,” they claimed.
They added that Duterte’s anti-illegal drug campaign has become a campaign of “mass murder of the poor, for which (the President) shows no signs of turning back,” claiming also that Duterte and his allies were “embarking on efforts to undermine the very institutions that serve as a check on his executive powers.”
They said the Moro peace process was “spiraling downward” with the Marawi conflict and the suspension of the peace negotiations with the National Democratic Front.
It was President Duterte who called off peace talks with the communists, angered by the deaths of soldiers–reportedly at the hands of communists— even when a ceasefire was in place.
“..Now that he is pushing for an insidious revision of the Constitution, now that he has revived his threat to declare martial law nationwide and impose a revolutionary government, we resolve to intensify efforts to defeat the emergence of a new dictatorship,” the lawmakers claimed.