Barangay, SK candidates warned against premature campaigning

A former national president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) and original convenor of a cause-oriented group on election issues on Sunday reminded and warned candidates in the coming barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections in October against disqualification on the basis of premature campaigning.

“This is a tricky issue because the village and SK elections are not automated but manual polling or counting as such it is not covered by a 2009 Supreme Court ruling that virtually nullified premature campaigning,” Atty. Jose Vicente Salazar, also known as Jovy Salazar in social circles, said.

A former Justice and Department of Information and Communications Technology Undersecretary, Atty. Salazar is one of the two original convenors of LENTE (Legal Network for Truthful Elections), formed in 2007 together with Ateneo Human Rights Center head, Atty. Chochoy Medina, and other representatives from CBCP-NASSA, PPCRV, NAMFREL, and ALSP.

Salazar also served as chairman of the board of governors and national president of IBP from 2005 to 2007. He was conferred a Lifetime Achievement award during IBP’s 50th anniversary last February.

“But being the sole governing body on elections, it would be wiser for our village and SK candidates in the October elections to follow and observe a recent Comelec en banc ruling that it will hold candidates liable for election code violations once they file their candidacies for the October 30, 2023 elections,” said Salazar.

Salazar’s warning came after the Comelec declared in the middle of February 2023 that it would treat premature campaigning for the barangay and youth council polls as an election offense despite SC’s 2009 campaign period ruling which only applies to automated elections.

The process of counting votes in the SK and barangay elections is manual.

Under the law, the campaign period for barangay ang Sangguniang Kabataan is only 10 days while the filing of candidacy may be arranged or scheduled by the poll body months or weeks before the election.

“Notwithstanding the 2009 Supreme Court (SC) landmark decision on the Peñera vs Comelec case, a.k.a. Peñera Doctrine, voiding the prohibition on premature campaigning, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) En Banc has agreed that for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE), a person will immediately be considered as a candidate once he or she has filed his or her Certificate of Candidacy (COC),” a Comelec official was quoted as saying by national media.

Recently, the former DICT Undersecretary lauded the Comelec and the throng of almost two million new registered voters for the coming Barangay and Sangguniang Bayan elections (BSKE) saying the result is a good sign more people are getting aware of their inherent right of suffrage.

The Comelec more than met its target of 1.5 million new voters as it logged more than 1.6 million new voters in the recent list-up extension that ended on January 31, 2023.

It may be recalled that in the previous 2022 National Elections, LENTE and the IBP signed a memorandum of agreement to promote a clean, peaceful, and honest election alongside a nationwide election educational campaign.

Relative to the October 30 barangay and SK elections, the Comelec has already commenced the printing of the 91 million ballots with an equivalent cost of P901 million undertaken by the National Printing Office. —