No budol at the ballot

May 11, 2025

Tomorrow, May 12, the Filipino people march to their precincts carrying democracy’s most powerful instrument—the ballot. NTF-ELCAC stands shoulder to shoulder with the entire government and every peace-loving citizen to ensure that this right is exercised freely, safely, and truthfully.

Our goal is straightforward: a peaceful, honest, intimidation-free election. A peaceful election means polling places are untouched by the CPP-NPA-NDF infiltration or armed interference; honest means public discourse and vote counts untainted by disinformation; intimidation-free means that voters are shielded from NPA coercion and the manipulation of CPP urban operatives and their partylist proxies.

Let us uphold the integrity of the election, especially for first-time voters, including former rebels who are placing their faith back in our democracy through the ballot they will cast tomorrow.

NTF-ELCAC salutes the quiet heroes of tomorrow’s exercise: the teachers who will trade sleep for 24-hour poll duty; the AFP and PNP personnel whose mere presence keeps the peace; and the volunteer marshals—some of them former rebels. Your vigilance and servant-leadership, rooted in malasakit, and anchored on public trust turn a routine election into a collective act of nation-building.

Tomorrow, the public will prove that they are no longer fooled by the CPP-NPA-NDF’s narrative that calling out extortion or exposing the exploitation of the electoral process to benefit the communist armed insurgency constitutes "red-tagging.”

In the run-up to election day, the CPP's urban operatives have stacked complaint after complaint against the task force. Now, at the last hour, they have turned their attention to former rebels—their ex-comrades—who have bravely chosen peace. But tomorrow, the Filipino people will ensure that these machinations will not succeed.

The task force maintains that legitimate civic groups have nothing to fear from transparency; only operators with hidden ties to the CPP-NPA-NDF cry foul on election eve. Huwag magpa-budol sa drama ng mga nag-aastang mabuti. Kapag may duda, i-check; kapag may pananakot at panlilinlang, i-report.

Ang boto ay sandata ng kapayapaan. Let us shield it from the barrel of a gun and the poison of lies so that every ballot cast echoes the true will of the Filipino people. Our rallying cry tomorrow is peace, transparency, and vigilance. And NTF-ELCAC remains on watch. Mabuhay ang isang mapayapa at malinis na halalan!

Undersecretary Ernesto C. Torres Jr.

Executive Director, National Secretariat

National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict