EDITORIAL - Lead by example

With the official start of the campaign period for national candidates, restrictions on campaign advertising and display of promotional materials are now in effect.

Surveys on the Senate race show candidates of the administration leading. President Marcos, who led the kickoff campaign of the Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas slate in his home region of Ilocos on Feb. 11, should urge his allies to lead by example in complying with campaign rules, limited as they are.

The Commission on Elections has repeatedly made known its rules on poll-related advertising and the display of campaign materials. Candidates should welcome the Comelec’s rules limiting the campaign period and restricting ads and the display of campaign materials. Such restrictions could significantly cut the cost of seeking elective office in this country.

Unfortunately, lawmakers themselves have rejected those rules. Thanks to Congress and the judiciary, much of the Comelec rules governing election campaigns have been rendered ineffectual. The legislature, reinforced by the judiciary, redefined “premature” and effectively eliminated the concept from campaigning, even after certificates of candidacy have been filed.

Combined with the much-eased restrictions on campaign advertising and display of materials, candidates have inflicted on the public with abandon their self-promotion, in cyber, broadcast and physical space. Invoking freedom of expression, the Supreme Court stopped the Comelec from dismantling campaign materials on private property. This has led to the current explosion everywhere of election streamers and billboards, with no size restrictions.

The Comelec, however, retains its power to restrict the display of campaign materials on government property and public spaces, including state-run schools, government offices and public infrastructure such as bridges. Public spaces include electric posts. Campaign materials are also prohibited on trees and utility wires.

On the second day of “Oplan Baklas” yesterday, the Comelec said five senatorial candidates are consistently violating rules on campaign posters. The Comelec should impose preliminary sanctions on the candidates, who were not identified. Speculations center on administration bets, who are seen to have enormous resources. Video footage of the Alyansa kickoff rally showed posters of the administration candidates plastered on the walls of a public school building near the venue of the event, attached to lampposts and fences and strung on wires along the street.

The Comelec is giving candidates three days from receipt of notice from the poll body to take down their campaign materials, with violators warned that they could face disqualification. President Marcos should tell his allies that they should not wait for a Comelec warning. Administration bets must lead by example in fair campaigning, instead of leading in impunity and defiance of election rules.