Red-tagged councilor dropped off from HnP’s slate in Davao City
DAVAO CITY—A city councilor who has been red-tagged here because of her stand against demolition, martial law and the anti-terror bill has been dropped off the local slate of the Duterte-led Hugpong ng Pagbabago and Hugpong Tawong Lungsod.
Councilor Pamela Librado-Morata, sister of two former councilors behind the progressive legislations in the city, said she was just informed on Wednesday that her certificate of nomination and acceptance (CONA) as member of the HnP had been withdrawn by the party from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) office on Tuesday.
Librado-Morata said she still had to receive the party’s resolution to withdraw her nomination but she said her removal from the party could be due to an “assessment” report only relayed to her by party members, tagging her as a member of the Gabriela, which the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) branded as a communist front.
Although Gabriela is a legitimate organization, Librado-Morata clarified that she was not a member of the group. However, her two sisters, former Councilors Angela Librado-Trinidad and Leah Librado, were closely identified with the progressive partylist group Bayan Muna.
“As my office has yet to personally receive the resolution to withdraw my nomination, it is our belief that my removal from the (party) is supposedly due to these messages of assessment by NTF-Elcac,” she said in a statement. “Regrettably, this conclusion was reached unilaterally, without any attempt to consult me, and neither was I given an opportunity to defend myself against such baseless and malicious accusations,” she added.
The “assessment” also mentioned Librado-Morata among four women leaders in the city who wanted to set up migrant desks in the city’s first district.
Although the setting up of migrant desks has been provided in an ordinance authored by former Councilor Angela Librado and passed by the previous city council, and that the city mayor had already signed the executive order for its implementation—the recent “assessment” tagged these migrant desks as communist fronts.
“The allegations of red-tagging against our family are not a novel nor a new concern,” Librado-Morata said in the statement. “My father and my sisters tackled such accusations head-on by showing why alternative pro-people politics is viable and more beneficial to our people. Such is proven by our uninterrupted public service for almost three decades.”
“While I respect the party’s position to withdraw the nomination, I condemn all efforts to insult the people’s trust in our brand of politics for 30 years by character assassination and red-tagging,” said Librado-Morata. “For the record, my family shall and will always stand by the marginalized and oppressed against all odds,” she added, referring to her father the late labor-leader-turned councilor Nonoy Librado, her mother Councilor Marlene Librado and her two sisters.
She said she might withdraw her candidacy for next year’s elections and would advocate for helping the poor outside of the government.
Librado-Morata was not the only one dropped off from the HnP local slate.
HnP also withdrew the CONA of Councilor Nilo “Small” Abellera Jr., a councilor closely identified with Rep. Paolo Duterte and the one who earned national fame when he testified before the senate in 2017 on the probe into the mysterious P6.4 billion drug shipment from China.
Vice Mayor Sebastian Duterte, who is running for mayor, confirmed dropping Abellera Jr. and Librado-Morata from the party’s list. “Mr. Nilo Abellera Jr. and Councilor Pamela Librado-Morata are no longer part of the official slate of HNP-HTL candidates for the Davao city council this coming 2022 local elections as the party believes that their ideals are not in line with the political party’s vision,” Duterte said in a statement. “We wish them well in their future endeavors.”
