Comelec mulls asking BSP to stop printing money

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is toying with the idea of asking the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to stop printing money before the May 2013 polls to minimize vote-buying.

Comelec Commissioner Christian Robert Lim said this scheme is one of the “macro” solutions that the poll body is eyeing to equalize the playing field among candidates next year.

“The demand for cash is high during elections. If we could get the BSP to stop printing money for the last months before the elections, okay,” he said during a seminar on the 2013 elections organized by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism and United States Agency for International Development.

The Comelec has not brought the matter up with BSP.

According to Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes, the candidates’ compliance with campaign finance rules is the most problematic aspect of Philippine elections. He said his problem is aggravated by the Supreme Court’s decriminalization of premature campaigning in November 2009.

The SC ruled in the Penera vs Comelec case that a candidate is not considered a candidate unless the campaign period has started.

He said they are taking photos of posters and streamers currently on display. The plan is for the Comelec to credit these expenses against the campaign spending limits set for candidates “retroactively,” Brillantes said.

Meanwhile, Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II said Philippine National Police chief Director General Nicanor Bartolome, 17 regional police directors and heads of the national support units have discussed with him last Monday their plans to ensure peaceful elections.

Roxas said part of the innovation is to consolidate information from election hotspots, areas with the most number of loose and licensed firearms. Earlier, Bartolome said the entire police force is poised to serve as Comelec deputies in next year’s elections.