This is to notify the Comelec that I intend to write about certain candidates for certain positions in Cebu City in my next column, which is on Monday, May 6. The projected column may mention Mike Rama and Tomas Osmeña, Edgar Labella and Joy Young, and Raul del Mar and Annabelle Rama.
I have to notify the Comelec in advance because the poll body has come up with a strange rule that requires it to be notified in advance by media of any column or opinion piece that may mention any candidate by name.
In the eyes of the Comelec, any mention of a candidate's name in an opinion piece is already campaigning, either for or against that candidate. It rationalizes its strange ruling by saying it only wants to level the playing field, that it wants to protect those candidates who don't have access to media.
Well, that seems a lot of bull to me because the Comelec has a twisted way of looking at things. For instance, it disqualifies candidates who, in its view, do not have the resources (spell that as money) to mount a credible campaign. Yet it stops those who have money from spending as much as they can.
Anyway, this strange rule about media having to ask permission first before being able to come up with an opinion piece is the single biggest blow to press freedom and freedom of expression that I have seen in recent times in the democratic world. It is brazen prior restraint and is unconstitutional.
But the really funny thing about it is that the Philippine media, which prides itself as the freest in Asia, has not raised a peep about the Comelec imposition. Scan the opinion pages of most newspapers and you hardly see any discussions about the qualifications of, or wisdom in going for, these or those candidates.
A very crucial and elemental role of media to help inform and educate the public that the right choices might be made has been effectively disabled with one swift stroke of the pen by the Comelec. And nobody has even raised a howl about it.
True, opinions in media might not be as well-motivated as they are purported to be. But there are other ways of addressing that problem. To put it simply, you do not have to burn the house down to get rid of a rat.
By shutting out opinion makers from the discussions, the Comelec only succeeded in leaving the electorate at the mercy of the propaganda machines of candidates, which cannot be expected to present all sides to enable an informed choice going into the elections.
But then again, I think the Comelec has sold itself out to the creeping dictatorship now taking place in this country. The dictatorship now has both houses of Congress and the Supreme Court under its control. It has the military. And of course it has the Comelec.
Yes the Comelec. And the best proof of that are the actuations of the Comelec chairman himself. The Comelec chairman threatened to resign in face of successive adverse rulings from the court but realized he spoke too soon. He tarried for days and when pressed on when he was really stepping down, he said he needed to talk to the president first.
What? The head of a constitutional body needing to talk to the president first about his resignation? Since when does the head of an independent constitutional body need to discuss his actions with the president?
But even granting for the sake of the argument that he needs to do that, isn't what is good for the goose also good for the gander? That if the Comelec chief needs to talk things with the president, that it also follows the president can talk things with the Comelec chief?
If that is how it is, wouldn't it be interesting to find out what the Comelec chief has in mind about the president's aggressive campaigning, using the resources of government (unlike media which is largely private) for a 12-0 sweep by his candidates?
Remember that there are very serious concerns about the security of election results which the Comelec, in a disturbingly cavalier manner, is dismissing with a flick of the wrist as if undeserving of a straight and honest answer. I hope the media restrictions have nothing to do with the creeping scenario that has everyone on edge.