Blatant violations seen on first day of campaign
MANILA, Philippines — A number of candidates blatantly violated Commission on Elections (Comelec) regulations at the start of the campaign period for barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) yesterday.
Tarpaulins showing images of candidates were posted at the fence of the barangay hall of Brgy. 154 in Tondo, Manila, according to earlier reports.
Other posters of candidates were also seen on an electric pole at the corner of Felix Huertas Road and Fugoso Street in Sampaloc.
Some posters were even displayed like streamers or banderitas in between streetlights, alongside so-called spaghetti wires, below the footbridge connecting Doroteo Jose station of the Light Rail Transit Line 1 and Recto station of LRT Line 2.
In Mandaluyong, campaign materials of candidates in Barangay Addition Hills were posted outside designated common areas, in violation of the rules and regulations set by the Comelec. The campaign posters were placed on electric posts near electrical wires, which could be a fire hazard.
“There are a number of violations like placing campaign materials on electric posts and power lines,” Comelec Chairman George Garcia said.
“Take extra care because you may get disqualified,” he warned the erring candidates in Filipino.
The poll chief said candidates should remind their supporters to put up campaign materials only in common poster areas on private property but upon approval of the owner.
Garcia said candidates would be held liable if those campaign materials were found beyond the common poster area. The Comelec, he said, will remove the illegally posted campaign materials and file a disqualification case against the candidates.
The Comelec, Garcia stressed, will be doubly strict in enforcing election prohibitions, especially on vote buying.
As of Oct. 18, the Comelec already filed 145 disqualification petitions against 145 BSKE candidates for premature campaigning. They are among the more than 7,000 candidates given show cause orders by the commission. Of these, 3,499 submitted their answers while 809 complaints were dropped for lack of factual basis.
Meanwhile, the Comelec disqualified candidate for barangay chairman Benedicto Santos Jr. of
