Mayor Sara backs 3 party-list groups, junks Makabayan bloc

DAVAO CITY -- Mayor Sara Z. Duterte has endorsed three party-list groups but expressed strong opposition to the leftist party-list groups belonging to the Makabayan bloc.

Mayor Sara, founding chairperson of the Hugpong ng Pagbabago, is backing Dumper -- the party that is pushing for the interest of the drivers and commuters with Claudine Bautista as first nominee; the Duterte Youth party-list represented by first nominee Ducielle Marie Suarez; and Ako an Bisaya represented by first nominee Ramp Nielsen Uy, a former vice-governor of Northern Samar.

Sara said the three party-list groups deserve support as they are pro-government in contrast with the leftist groups that the mayor said are working against the government.

“The public “should not support the party-list groups which do not support the government," Sara was quoted as saying in an ABS-CBN report.

“Pansarili nilang agenda ang tinutulak nila. At marami d’yan sa Makabayan party-lists nagbibigay ng resources sa mga CPP-NPA na lumalaban naman sa gobyerno (They are only after their personal interest. Many of the Makabayan party-list groups are giving resources to the CPP-NPA which is fighting the government),” the report quoted the mayor as saying.

Sara is referring to the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People's Army (CPP-NPA), which is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.

The mayor has been critical of leftist groups since last year following the Kilusang Mayo Uno-led (KMU) protest against a banana exporter here that hampered the flow of goods and people in this city.

She earlier called on Dabawenyos not to support the party-list groups under the Makabayan bloc: Bayan Muna, Alliance of Concerned Teachers, Anakpawis, Gabriela, Kabataan, and Migrante.

“These militant groups, who masquerade themselves as pro-people, only want to show hostility and chaos, especially to those who reject them and the terrorist groups they support — the New People’s Army, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), and the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP),” Sara said in a press statement issued last year. (PNA)