Bayan Muna as Victim of Political Oppressions: A Critical Study of the Awareness and Perceptions of Voters in Ligid- Tipas, Taguig City and their Impact on Voting Behavior towards the Party-list Group in the 2007 May Elections

Abstract

Prior to the May 2007 elections, several accounts of disturbance and misgiving were committed against Bayan Muna, a progressive party-list group. Hundreds of its members and leaders were either murdered or abducted. High military personnel and government officials claimed that the party-list was a political front of the Communist Party of the Philippines - New Peoples’ Army (CPP-NPA).. Moreover, at the beginning of the campaign period, multiple murder charges were filed against Satur Ocampo, one of the party-list's representatives to Congress, which then lead to his detention in the Manila Police District for a couple of weeks. After the May 2007 elections, Bayan Muna received a relatively lower number of votes as compared to the 2004 elections. Furthermore, the adoption of Panganiban Formula, the new formula used by the COMELEC in determining the number of congressional seats that each winning party-list would be allocated with, provided only two seats to the party-list, which is a seat less than what it had before. Apparently, in a democratic legislative body like the Congress where the numbers game determine which decisions and laws will be made, fewer seats would mean lesser freedom and capacity to carry out goals or aspirations of that party. Certainly, with the outcome of mentioned practices committed against Bayan Muna, they would be justifiably termed as forms of political oppressions. Consequently, this research established proof and discovered the cause behind these phenomena. Since voters would decide who will win or what party will have more votes in an election, it determined if their awareness and perception to political oppressions like those mentioned above lead them to a particular voting behavior towards Bayan Muna, which eventually resulted to its weaker election performance. This research contributed in developing a more comprehensive study regarding this issue by conducting a local or barangay level research that would serve as a pilot research for testing the applicability of such study. Furthermore, this research identified the awareness level of Ligid-Tipas voters on three selected political oppressions committed against Bayan Muna; the perceptions of Ligid-Tipas voters regarding the political oppressions; and, the factors or conditions that influenced their perception on these oppressions. To provide the groundwork of this study, this research used a multidisciplinary It combined critical science approach and the new field of political approach. psychology. Moreover, this framework led to an analysis using two theories: false consciousness theory and terror management theory. For data collection, this research also decided to use two research designs: the survey and participatory research designs. Incorporating a survey research design, the research employed questionnaires as the principal instrument of data collection. It also devised the key informant interview as an important instrument for data collection. After data collection, the research analyzed the data using quantitative and qualitative data analyses. In the end, after all the data had been collected, analyzed, and interpreted, the research built up three different perspectives which would resolve the research problem. And from the three perspectives, it chose the best-supported conclusion: the awareness and perceptions of Ligid-Tipas voters on the oppressions against Bayan Muna had no significant affect on their voting behavior towards the party-list.