Initiated by the Ministry of Public Affairs of the Ecclesiastical District of Makati, the pact hopes to eliminate violence, cheating and mudslinging.
All of the candidates of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipinas-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) and the Lakas-NUCD from the mayor down to the councilors were invited to attend the meeting.
In a press statement yesterday, the PDP-Laban party led by mayoral candidate Jejomar Binay said it had signed the covenant.
Binay said the PDP-Laban party has vowed "not to resort to mudslinging being waged by some local candidates" and to turn the campaign into a forum for education and discussion of their plans for Makati.
However, inspite of the enthusiasm of the two political parties involved, there has been some degree of skepticism on the eventual results of the Church-initiated peace covenant.
Councilor Robert Dean Barbers, who is running for vice-mayor under the Lakas-NUCD party, said that he does not believe his counterparts would abide by the said covenant based on the actions of the PDP-Laban party.
He also doubted that all of the PDP-Laban candidates would show up, based on what happened during a similar meeting at the Commission on Elections,
The councilor also claimed that PDP-Laban supporters have been removing the campaign posters and streamers of Lakas-NUCD candidates.
Binay, for his part accused his opponents of initiating the mudslinging which has gone as far as involving members of his family.
"Frankly, we have been experiencing a lot of mudslinging and muckraking in Makati, the kind which has not spared even an innocent young child who happens to be my youngest daughter," Binay said with reference to the reported personal attacks by the opposition bets on his daughter JM.
However, he gave assurance that his party would employ only peaceful means in the campaign and avoid harassment of voters, election officials and their opponents. – Marvin Sy