PHLPost offers to deliver campaign materials to voters

MANILA, Philippines - Apart from posting print, television and radio political advertisements, candidates running in the May 13 elections could avail of the cheaper services of the Philippine Postal Corp. (PHLPost) to deliver campaign materials right to the doorstep of voters.

Assistant Postmaster General for Marketing and Management Support Service Luis Carlos yesterday said that candidates could use the Unaddressed Advertising Mail Service (UAMS) for their campaign.

Carlos explained that candidates spend about P200,000 for a 30-second spot on television, but with the UAMS they would spend less than P5 per mail and the aspirants could be assured that the target voters would directly get the message.

He said there would be a “proof of mail” from PHLPost to show that the letter was sent to the intended person or the candidate could validate the delivery on his own.

Mailmen would deliver the campaign materials through house-to-house basis, without any specific target address, to a community identified by the candidate.

Carlos also said there is a possibility that a constituent would miss out on the advertisement that was aired on radio or television.

“Unlike if it is in your household, the letter couriers would place them inside the mailbox in your home and you would definitely see it. You could throw it in the trash can (later on) but you would still have to open it and see it first.”

If for instance the candidate is running for a mayoralty post in a city, he could tap the services of PHLPost to deliver the brochures that contain information about him and his advocacies to his constituents. 

Carlos also pointed out that candidates should make use of their service because unlike the print media, television and radio, the UAMS is not covered by any restriction imposed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

The poll body ruled that under Resolution 9615 each candidate has a limit of only 120 minutes of airtime for television and 180 minutes for radio.

When asked if the candidates would be given equal treatment, regardless of their political affiliation if they are from the administration’s Liberal Party (LP), United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) or an independent candidate, the PHLPost official said the candidates could be assured that they would be fair.

“This is a business preposition. It is not partisan,” Carlos said.

He added that they have been promoting the UAMS since the 2004 elections and so far, “we have not seen any regulation against the UAMS.”

Carlos said that during past elections, there were some local candidates who used the UAMS to send out election paraphernalia to their constituents.

In line with the campaign season, Postmaster General Ma. Josefina de la Cruz has decided to come up with a promotional rate for UAMS for the 2013 elections.

From the usual rate of P5, a letter weighing 50 grams and below would only cost P3.25 if it would be sent within the city or municipality, P3.50 if outside the municipality or city but within the province, P4 if within Luzon, Visayas or Mindanao; and P4.50 if outside Luzon, Visayas or Mindanao.