Poster rule violators face disqualification

To lessen the advantage of incumbent officials seeking an elective post in May, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is requiring them to remove their names, pictures and other forms of identification on public structures and vehicles.

Comelec issued Resolution No. 9615, re- quiring that “names, images, logos, brands, insignias, color motifs, initial and other forms of identifiable graphical representations” on government properties would be considered “prohibited forms of propaganda” when the campaign period starts on Feb. 12.

“All prohibited forms of election propaganda... shall be immediately removed, or caused to be removed, by said candidate or party before the start of the campaign period,” the resolution stated.

Comelec said otherwise the “candidate or party shall be presumed to have committed the pertinent election offense.”

The resolution contained the rules and regulations implementing Republic Act 9006 or the Fair Elections Act.

For national candidates, the campaign period will start on Feb. 12 while local bets can start their campaign on March 30. They are required to cease campaigning on May 11, or two days before election day.

Originally, local candidates were supposed to start campaigning on March 29 but this falls on Good Friday.

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes said they intend to strictly implement the rules on campaign propaganda to level the playing field among all candidates.

“We will be very strict when the campaign period starts. Anyway, you are already abusing now (when) we don’t have (a law) on premature campaigning,” he added.

Electioneering was decriminalized in a 2009 decision of the Supreme Court on Penera vs. Comelec where the high tribunal ruled that electioneering could be committed during the campaign period since there are no official candidates yet.

To set an example for other candidates, Brillantes said they hope to disqualify candidates who would violate the rules on campaign posters on the first week of the campaign period.

“We have to send a very strong message to the politicians that we are serious with what we are doing. We are not joking with you,” he warned. Brillantes also urged anti-Epal groups to help in removing illegal campaign materials before the campaign period begins.

The Comelec will also create a task force to bring down campaign posters and streamers posted outside the common poster areas and in violation of the required sizes of the materials.

“A common poster area does not refer to a post, a tree, the wall of a building or an existing public structure that is in active use, but a structure, the location and number of which are herein below determined, that is temporar- ily set up by the candidates or political parties for the exclusive purpose of displaying their campaign posters,” the resolution stated.

Election officers are tasked to designate and identify the common poster areas that could be used by candidates.

“No lawful election propaganda materials shall be allowed outside the common poster areas except in private properties with the consent of the owner or in such other places,” the resolution said.

Brillantes also said television and radio networks must first get approval from the Comelec before putting any candidate on air.

“But that’s only for monitoring purposes because guesting could also be abused and it could also be used as a form of campaigning. If you are always featured on TV or radio every now and then, we can always treat it as a part of campaign propaganda,” he said.

Brillantes added that regu- lar news or discussions on issues do not need Comelec permission and would not be charged to the candidates’ airtime limit.

“That won’t be counted for the purposes of the limitations but if you’re the one who are always invited while your rivals are not being invited, and all the commentaries are in favor of one candidate, we will monitor this at a certain point,” he said.