EDITORIAL - Another Comelec lapse

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources had to remind candidates to spare trees from campaign materials. The Commission on Elections, on the other hand, appeared ready to throw up its hands in surrender as campaign materials of all candidates including President Arroyo started flooding every available area yesterday, the start of the 90-day campaign period.

By afternoon yesterday, Comelec and police personnel had apprehended 253 people in two cities in Metro Manila alone for pasting campaign materials of different candidates. Comelec Education and Information Division chief Ferdinand Rafanan said they would ask candidates to explain, but how do you do this to the President of the Philippines? "The first day shows that our politicians are models of lawlessness, that we are in the land of the corrupt, reflective of the political system we have. This shows the state of the nation where there is no respect for the law. This is lawlessness perpetuated by pretenders to leadership."

Amen. The public, however, pinned part of the blame on the Comelec for failure to give adequate information and proper warning to all candidates regarding special areas designated for campaign materials. Common poster areas have been blatantly disregarded by candidates in recent elections, and the Comelec should have had adequate preparations for similar infractions this time. Instead the poll body is as usual looking overwhelmed by the task of enforcing rules on common poster areas. And the campaign for local positions hasn’t even started yet.

Like the rules on advertising in mass media, the designation of common poster areas is supposed to give candidates equal opportunities for reaching the electorate, regardless of the size of their war chest and political machinery. Such rules, however, have been routinely mocked by candidates, as they mock limited rules on campaign spending. The mockery is made possible by the Comelec’s own lapses. As the spokesman of the administration party groused yesterday, how can you select the proper place for campaign materials when the Comelec has not de-signated common poster areas?