The fear of non-existing premature campaigning offense

In all broadcast and print advertisements of candidates who already filed their certificates of candidacy for the 2016 elections, they merely give a short statement of their qualifications and their names without stating the position they are running. For instance, if Wally Jose is running for Senator, he merely says “I am Wally Jose” instead of saying “I am Wally Jose and I am running for Senator.”

This is clear political hypocrisy because these candidates know they are campaigning and yet they pretend or make it appear that they are not by not saying “vote for me” or “I am running for this position.”

They do not say the position they are aspiring because they fear they would be liable for premature campaigning which exposes their ignorance of the fact that there is no such election offense under the automated election law.  To be liable for this offense under Section 80 of the Omnibus Election Code (OEC), one must already be declared an official “candidate”, or one who had already filed a COC, otherwise there would be no violation of such election offense.

Under the Automated Election Law or Republic Act 9369, while these candidates had already filed their COCs, they are not yet considered as candidates which means they cannot be held liable for premature campaigning, or campaigning before the campaign period. 

Thus, to prove their sincerity to the electorate, these candidates should state or say the positions they are running in all these advertisements so that the public could also be guided accordingly.  Now, if they believe that they are already ‘candidate’ which prevents them from stating their positions, then all expenses they incurred for these advertisements should be reported to the Comelec in the spirit of transparency. 

The electorate deserve to know the actual amount spent by these candidates and the sources of monies they used for such expensive advertisements. After all, Section 14 of Republic Act No. 7166 mandates that all these candidates shall submit “full statement of contributions and expenditures received in connection with the election” which means that the report is not only limited to expenses incurred during the campaign period but any and all contributions they received and expenses they incurred before, during and after election. Although a separate report could be made detailing actual expenses and contributions received during the campaign period. – Atty. ROMULO B. MACALINTAL, Election Lawyer, Las Piñas City.