Babae ka

Babae Ka, one of the party-list groups that is allegedly fronting for Malacanang, is frothing in the mouth. In a letter-complaint addressed to COMELEC Chair Benjamin Abalos, it urged the poll body to disqualify AKBAYAN for divulging Babae Ka’s nominees. In AKBAYAN’s Bare the List blog, Babae Ka hurled a few other accusations: that AKBAYAN representatives in Congress did nothing to amend the Party-list law (RA 7941), and that in AKBAYAN’s stay in Congress since 1998, it failed to achieve anything.

What’s amusing with Babae Ka’s tirade is that it reeks of deceit. In the first place, it was Babae Ka that announced its first and second nominees in its website. On AKBAYAN’s legislative achievements, the party did file an amendment to the Party-list Law, which was approved by the Committee on Suffrage but was later ignored by the House majority. With the stance taken by AKBAYAN and other leftist party-lists in Congress, it is easy to surmise why pro-administration legislators did not want any enhancement on the system.

AKBAYAN also authored several bills that were passed into law. It was the principal author of the bill abolishing death penalty. It authored the Right to Self-Organization, an amendment to the Labor Code, which will be signed into law this May 1. AKBAYAN Representatives also authored the Juvenile Justice law that keeps children in conflict with the law out of prison. Furthermore, it championed the Overseas Voting law a few years ago, and this term, AKBAYAN successfully introduced amendments to the law to enhance it.

Even while we are in the middle of the campaign, we are working to have several bills approved once Congress resumes session this June. The first one is the Human Rights Compensation Bill, which obliges the State to pay for human rights abuses that it incurred. It only needs to be ratified by Congress. The other bill is the Cheaper Medicines Bill, an amendment to the Intellectual Property Code to lower the exorbitant and inhumane price of medicines in the country through parallel importation, compulsory licensing, etc.

If only Babae Ka would be more diligent in checking its information. If only it would answer – and be straight about it – allegations that it was an active Sigaw ng Bayan member, and that its nominees Sally Dagami and Ruth Vasquez were coordinators of that pseudo-movement KGMA, which launched GMA’s presidential campaign in 2004.