Early campaigning via billboards?

The election period has officially started with the start of the filing of Certificates of Candidacies last Friday. However, we all know that the unofficial election period started a long time ago, when advertisements started coming out on television promoting certain personalities. We already knew a long time ago, long before people announced they were running for office, who were eyeing positions in government.

Here in Talisay City where I live, the unofficial election period also started way before the start of the filing of candidacies last Friday. It was about middle of this year, or even earlier, when billboards bearing faces of different personalities in Talisay started sprouting all over the city.

Let me give you an idea about what these billboards are. However, lest I be accused of campaigning, I won’t mention the names of the personalities that are shown in the billboards in my beloved city.

If I remember correctly, the very first billboard that was put up was something about giving children the best education and that Southwestern University can give the best education to your child. There was a picture of students and a building of SWU but then at the right side of the billboard was a big picture of a man, a councilor of one of the barangays in Talisay.

The next billboard that was put up was a yellow billboard with a big picture of another personality and the name of a junkshop he owns. These billboards were placed in different areas in the city but the ones I saw were placed at the entrance of the Talisay portion of the Cebu South Coastal Road.

Days after, billboards of a person who owns a resort in Talisay was put up. The one I saw was also in the Talisay portion of the coastal road.

Then came a billboard, which I thought was just an advertisement of a memorial park. I even told my husband that it was so weird that the billboard featured a face of a person when it was supposed to be promoting a memorial park. Upon close scrutiny, I found that promoting the memorial park was just a secondary thing and that the billboard was actually promoting the man, who, I think owns the memorial park.

Talisay City Mayor Soc Fernandez was not to be outdone. He also came up with billboards that enumerated his accomplishments.

   Although the billboards that have been put up here in Talisay do not say anything about voting for this and that particular person, the purpose of the billboards are very obvious, and that is to promote the face in the billboard. Some of the faces in the billboards even admitted on local television news that they are doing so to introduce themselves to Talisaynons.

    No matter how we look at it, the billboards in Talisay, just like the television ads of political personalities, are already forms of campaigning. But because our election laws are so vague and have no teeth, there is really nothing we can do about these early campaigning.

Premature campaigning has always been a problem when it comes to elections in our country but there are really no definite guidelines about it. Our election laws says that only those who have filed their certificates of candidacies are covered by the election laws, and this has been used as an excuse by most of those who are eyeing to run for posts in government. Many political wannabes are getting away with early campaigning because they have not filed their candidacies anyway.

What then is the purpose of setting schedules for the campaign period?

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