Bayan Muna is not disqualified in tomorrow’s mid-term elections, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said.
The poll body made the clarification on Saturday night after being notified of social media posts claiming it disqualified the storied partylist.
Comelec said the fake notice copied its press statement format distributed by at least doubtful 12 Facebook accounts.
“No such resolution was issued by the Comelec en banc disqualifying Bayan Muna Partylist this elections and it remains in the official list of party-list groups that could be voted on Monday,” the Comelec said.
Comelec said the fake claim purportedly issued by a government agency is a direct and outright violation of every Filipino’s right to correct and factual information in the coming elections.
“We remind everyone that distribution of false, alarming information is an election offense under…the Omnibus Election Code,” it added.
Media outfits Rappler, Inquirer and Philippine Star issued similar clarifications after learning that their respective logos were used distributing the fake claim. They said they did not post the misleading claims.
Meanwhile, unidentified red-taggers deployed caskets all over the country calling for no votes to Makabayan Coalition partylists and candidates.
The caskets contained various vilifying materials, Kabataan Party reported.
Posters red-tagging progressive candidates and parties were also displayed all over the country, Kodao learned.
The red-tagger apparently used the last few hours of the campaign period on Saturday night to deploy the posters.
Bayan Muna is reportedly planning to file formal complaints before the Comelec against the last ditch red-tagging operations.
The Makabayan Coalition has repeatedly accused National Task Force To End Local Communist Armed Conflict operatives as behind the red-tagging operations. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
