Premature campaign is still election gray area-Comelec

PRE-MATURE electioneering still remains to be one of the gray areas in the Omnibus Election Code, admits Bohol Commission on Elections Supervisor and lawyer Veronico Petalcorin in a chance interview recently. Election period starts today, January 14 and the election period calendar immediately takes its effect with the election prohibited acts to be strictly implemented by Comelec deputized members of the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Asked on the matter of banners, tarpaulins, radio and TV ads that continue to crop up even before the election period and donations purportedly as charitable aid but actually to amass popular support, Petalcorin said until the eyeing candidates file their certificates of candidacy, the Comelec can not file a case against them.

In the national scene, Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos also said that they could not reprimand the politicians because his office has no jurisdiction over them until they file a certificate of candidacy. January 15 is set as the start of the filing of certificate of candidacies (COCs) of those intended to run in the May polls. The last day of filing for COCs for the senatorial candidates is on February 15 while the deadline for the local candidates is set on March 29. Over this, Bohol supervisor Petalcorin however said premature floating of candidacies may prove to be too costly for candidates throwing their hats into the local arenas, as having been identified, they may become targets of solicitations that in the homestretch, may be too much for their resources to cope. As this developed, many believe with election period in, it may be too hard for the Comelec to file premature electioneering charges against perpetrators because they would be pre-occupied with the election duties by then. Aside from pre-election period duties, the Comelec is also handling other supervisory functions as counting, prosecuting other election offenses and protests.

This early, by using a new machine, Comelec Chair Ben Abalos said they were able to capture the biometrics of voters registered in different places in both Mindanao and Metro Manila. He said that among the 100,000 flying voters they discovered, mostly were from Autonomous Regions of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). The Comelec then has subpoenaed the 100,000 flying voters in Metro Manila to explain why their names were doubly registered in separate places. This however may be because of honest lapses, Petalcorin said. However, having been assigned in Mindanao before, Bohol supervisor said he has also witnessed blatant violations rampant in the ARMM, this he said weeks after reportedly filing cases of registration offenses against twice -registered voters in Maguindanao.

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