NTF-ELCAC hails record voter turnout in 2025 midterm elections

MANILA — The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and its Legal Cooperation Cluster lauded the Filipino electorate for delivering a historic 82.2% voter turnout during the May 12 midterm elections, the highest ever recorded in a Philippine midterm poll.

In a statement Saturday, NTF-ELCAC called the turnout a "resounding affirmation of democratic participation," crediting the peaceful and efficient conduct of the elections to the Commission on Elections (COMELEC), Department of Education, Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine National Police.

Meanwhile, COMELEC Chair George Erwin Garcia assured the public of the system’s integrity, emphasizing that “transparency and security remain top priorities” under the automated voting system.

NTF-ELCAC also cited a 26% decline in votes for party-list groups linked to the Communist Party of the Philippines–New People's Army–National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF), compared with the 2022 midterms. Only two of the Makabayan bloc’s partylists are projected to win congressional seats, while Bayan Muna faces a pending delistment for failing to win in two successive election cycles.

Former rebel federation Buklod Kapayapaan, a federation of former rebels’ people’s organizations across the country, echoed this sentiment but also denounced what it called “a coordinated campaign” by Makabayan partylists, particularly in Davao Region to discredit and silence Kalinaw Southeastern Mindanao Region (SEMR), one of its founding affiliates.

“We are fully aware of how the current election is being used by the CPP,” Buklod Kapayapaan said in a May 11 statement. “Though it is being painted by the Makabayan bloc as 'red-tagging,' we know for a fact that these individuals and party-lists are cadres and organizations by the CPP specifically tasked to exploit our democratic spaces.”

Buklod Kapayapaan defended Kalinaw SEMR’s voter education campaign as a legitimate exercise of free speech. “This labeling as 'traitors' is not just an attack on individuals,” the group said, “but an attempt to silence those who know the truth and have firsthand experience with the CPP’s tactics and strategies.”

The federation also challenged COMELEC to look beyond complaints filed by the Makabayan bloc.

“These complaints are nothing more than a vain attempt to deflect attention as they slip down the polls,” the statement added. “Instead of admitting that the Filipino people are roundly rejecting them, they choose to target those who have decided to move on from armed struggle.”

NTF-ELCAC reiterated its call for Makabayan partylists to renounce armed struggle and commit to peaceful engagement.