MANILA, Philippines — The Gabriela Women’s Party on Monday filed a manifestation of intent to join the 2022 national elections “as an act of defiance” to the disqualification case filed against it by the government’s anti-insurgency task force.
Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas and other party officials filed the petition at Commission on Elections (Comelec) headquarters in Manila on International Women’s Day.
“We are actively campaigning against the NTF-Elcac’s (National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict) disqualification case, particularly its claim that we are ‘advocating violence,” Brosas said.
The task force had repeatedly branded Gabriela as a front of the Communist Party of the Philippines and had asked the Comelec to disqualify the group.