Tarpaulins of candidates spread all over Laguna province. An explosion of social media propaganda pages. Candidates suddenly appear at various government projects, particularly the much-criticized distribution of various forms of financial assistance in the province.
Ordinarily, these forms of what concerned Filipinos view as “premature campaigning” can be considered an election offense and, as such, grounds for disqualification or removal from office.
The big surprise? They actually aren’t, according to officials of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
In fact, Comelec officials told local media during the recent “Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas” forum held in Biñan City, Laguna last November 8, “premature campaigning” is now no longer considered an election offense at all.
Supreme Court case
In reply to a question from OpinYon Laguna, Comelec Assistant Regional Election Director Atty. Margaret Joyce Reyes-Cortez cited the Supreme Court decision in the case of Penera vs. Commission on Elections, promulgated way back in 2009, as the main basis of the new policy on premature campaigning.
The decision, penned by former Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, drew from Section 13 of Republic Act No. 9369 (Election Automation Law of 2007) which states that “[a]ny person who files his certificate of candidacy within [the period for filing] shall only be considered as a candidate at the start of the campaign period for which he filed his certificate of candidacy.”
Thus, according to the decision, acts that are once considered prohibited by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) such as those which it deemed as premature campaigning “shall take effect only upon the start of the aforesaid campaign period.”
Or, to quote Philippine Daily Inquirer columnist Randy David in his August 11 column regarding the topic, "Before the official campaign begins, there is no candidate to speak of, and therefore no election offense with which he/she may be charged."
In fact, Atty. Reyes-Cortez pointed out, before the official campaign season (February 11, 2025 for national candidates and March 28, 2025 for local candidates), candidates are not officially designated as candidates but simply as “aspirants.”
“Yung mga prohibitions po on campaigning ay doon pa lang po mag-a-apply sa ating mga aspirant,” she added.
Tarpaulins, vote-buying
The Supreme Court ruling, Atty. Reyes-Cortez explained, meant that certain acts which were once considered prohibited are no longer considered prohibited by the Comelec before the start of the campaign period.
These include not only putting up tarpaulins of candidates but also of incumbent officials handing out financial assistance (in the guise of the various financial assistance programs reputedly spearheaded by the Department of Social Welfare and Development).
"Those acts [if committed before the campaign period] still falls doon po sa wala pa pong premature campaigning. So those acts cannot be considered as vote-buying or vote-selling," the Comelec official replied to a query regarding vote-buying issues.
The same also applies to the issue of campaign tarpaulins, notwithstanding the fact (brought out by local media) that the Comelec had instituted a vigorous campaign against putting up election paraphernalia before the official campaign period for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (BSKE) elections last year.
“Dahil nga po kailangan nating sumunod sa desisyon ng Korte Suprema, we don’t have any power yet para tanggalin ang mga tarpaulin. Kasi nga po, as per the ruling, the putting up of tarpaulins is still considered as being under the candidates’ ‘freedom of expression,’ and also, they are not considered as candidates as of this time,” the Comelec official explained.
Calabarzon still tops voter count
Meanwhile, it was also noted during the forum that the Calabarzon region can still be considered as one of the most "vote-rich" regions in the Philippines this coming 2025 elections.
Data shared by Comelec during the forum disclosed that there are a total of 9,764,170 registered voters in the region.
Of these, 1,090,119 (or 11 percent) are considered as "new voters," or voters who registered from February 12 to September 24, 2024.
Cavite province tops the list with 2,460,981 voters, followed by Laguna province (2,150,051), Batangas province (1,968,785), Rizal (1,681,529) and Quezon (1,502,824).
As the system for voting that will be used in the 2025 elections (Full Automation System with Transparency and Audit/Count, or FASTrAC) is an entirely new system, Atty. Reyes-Cortez said the Comelec's local offices will conduct roadshows to various barangays and other institutions in the region to explain the new voting system, as well as the new "automated counting machines," to voters and other stakeholders.
(Photo by Catherine Go)
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