MANILA, Philippines – Party-list group Bayan Muna filed its Certificate of Nomination and Acceptance (CONA) on Tuesday, October 1, to vie for seats in the House of Representatives after its decimation in the 2022 elections.

There are currently no Bayan Muna representatives in Congress, the first time for the party-list group since 2001 when it won three seats.

For the 2025 elections, Bayan Muna is fielding its veterans, human rights lawyers Neri Colmenares and Carlos Zarate, as first and second nominees, respectively. Former representatives Ferdinand Gaite and Eufemia Cullamat are third and fourth nominees. Human rights lawyer Kristina Conti, an accredited assistant counsel of the International Criminal Court (ICC), is fifth nominee.

Colmenares said on Tuesday that Bayan Muna will continue to push for legislations and policies that will push down the prices of goods, increase workers’ wages, among others.

“Ang maipagmamalaki namin sa Bayan Muna, hindi namin sinasanto ang kurakot, kahit presidente ka pa ng Pilipinas, basta kurakot ka wala kaming problemang sitahin ka, wala kaming problemang ipa-impeach ka,” said Colmenares.

(What Bayan Muna is proud of is we do not think twice of going against the corrupt, even if you are the president, as long as you are corrupt we have no problems calling you out, we have no problems trying to impeach you.)

Bayan Muna is part of the leftist Makabayan bloc at the House, an umbrella of party-list groups providing a check-and-balance force in the lower house.

The Makabayan’s electoral decimation was partly the result of years-long red-tagging during the Duterte presidency. With red-tagged members, and many activists killed and detained, their ground campaign was severely weakened. Colmenares said on Tuesday that their loss was not due to a wrong strategy, but due to the sustained attacks against them.

Critics of Makabayan have rekindled discussion of its support for Duterte in the early days of his presidency. Leftist figures were appointed to the Duterte Cabinet before their appointments were rejected by the Commission on Appointments. Colmenares dismissed those criticisms Tuesday, saying they officially supported Senator Grace Poe in 2016 and not Duterte.

Makabayan has historically never allied with the Liberal Party (LP), until 2022 when they made a historic endorsement of LP figures Leni Robredo and Francis Pangilinan albeit Robredo ran as independent.

These fractures are all part of the fragmentation of the political opposition. “Kung may common issues, lalo na sa isyu ng corruption, lalo na sa isyu ng presyo, human rights, sa isyu ng sahod, wala kaming problemang magkaisa sa sinumang mananalo na oposisyon,” said Colmenares.

(If there are common issues especially on the issues of corruption, prices, human rights, and wages, we have no problem being allies with anyone who wins from the opposition.)

For 2025, Colmenares is leaving behind his senatorial dreams temporarily to help Bayan Muna’s bid to get back their House seats. It will be former Bayan Muna representative Teddy Casiño who will gun for the Senate in 2025, part of a diverse Makabayan lineup for the upper house.

Currently, there are only three Makabayan representatives at the House: ACT Teachers’ France Castro, Gabriela’s Arlene Brosas, and Kabataan’s Raoul Manuel. These three have been active in the current House investigations into the alleged abuses of the Rodrigo Duterte government, as well as the controversies involving Vice President Sara Duterte. The drug war extrajudicial killings (EJK) investigation was borne out of their resolution, and Castro was the one who moved to subpoena the audit of Vice President Duterte’s confidential funds, blowing the lid open into that issue.

In the elections, a voter chooses only one party-list group.

Each party-list group has a list of nominees who can have a seat at the House of Representatives.

In the 2025 elections, there are 63 seats up for grabs for party-list nominees.

Party-list groups that get 2% of the national vote get one seat, with additional seats determined based on how many votes they get that surpasses the 2% threshold.

– Rappler.com