Absolute beneficiaries of the partylist system were the left-wing groups that collectively brand themselves as the Makabayan bloc. The group is what Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile considers the ultimate surrender of the legislature to the enemies of the State.

The bloc in the House of the Representatives has been known for being obstructionist, resorting to spreading gossip and blocking administration bills.

Members of the group deny ties to the armed rebellion yet their acts are synchronized with the aims of the Communist Party of the Philippines. The bloc’s capability to irritate and throw roadblocks at the incumbent administration is without equal.

Among its goals for next year’s polls is to forge alliances that will allow it to be more effective in its obstruction efforts. It is, thus, amazing that the House leadership has been courting the group to add numbers and advance partisan ends.

Paying heed to its inexistent influence allows the Makabayan bloc to gain confidence. For instance, it is now considering fielding a full Senate slate in next year’s elections which is welcome since the left-wingers will be reminded of their public repudiation.

The House leadership should be reminded that the bloc is responsible for accusing the chamber’s leadership of working for term extensions through the Charter change push.

It is the same group that spread the rumor in the previous administration that Congress would be abolished and a dictatorship would be put in place.

Using government resources to push their sinister agenda, the bloc is able to press on with their obstructionist agenda that will be subtly manifested in the forthcoming State of the Nation Address when they will supposedly flout the ban on protest attire.

The ban is meant to preserve the dignity of the occasion, which is when the President presents to Congress his legislative agenda for the year and at the same time report to the nation the accomplishments of his administration.

No other proof is needed about the aims of the iconoclasts whose real aim is to destabilize the government.

In the 2019 polls, the Reds and the Yellows fielded candidates but none of them were elected because they carried the stigma of a sinister motive for taking over government control.

Either through a revolt or a revolution, take your pick, both groups have a sordid history of destabilization.

The Liberal Party fielded eight candidates through the Otso Diretso lineup and not one got through to the Senate. Fielded by the Reds, on the other hand, were a coterie of supposed cause-oriented groups in the partylist contest, and only one or two managed to get the required votes.

The most obvious result in the polls was the bitter truth for the destabilizers that the masses whom they said strongly supported their causes had repudiated them.

From then on, the dual threats posing as legislators never emerged from perdition since the public, the voters, have not forgotten their sins.

The root of it all is the partylist system that did not serve its aim of giving Congress the widest representation but instead opened a door to make lives easier for opportunists and enemies of the state.