TAGBILARAN CITY, Philippines – It is still months before the 2016 elections’ official campaign starts, but local and national candidates appeared to have taken advantage of the Christmas season in pushing themselves to the voters.
Some national bets have their faces and names already in tarpaulins mounted in power posts along the main highways in the city, at the pretext of greeting the people for the holidays.
Take for instance the murals or billboards of Liberal Party official bets—Mar Roxas and Leni Robredo for president and vice-president, respectively—have been mounted at a junction of Dauis and V.P. Inting Avenue at the national highway in the city, a week before Christmas.
Then there were also smaller tarpaulins with the faces of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, presidential and vice-presidential bets of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan, hanged on electric posts along J.A. Clarin Street in the city.
Tarpaulins of senatorial candidate Francis Tolentino were also posted along the city’s Borja Street, while some local bets put their respective tarpaulins on strategic places in the guise of Christmas greetings. There were others who mounted “campaign materials” on their vehicles.
The campaign period for national candidates starts on February 9, 2016, or 90 days before Election Day, and for local bets starts on March 25, or 45 days before the polls.
It was not immediately known if these obviously campaign materials posted in public areas, such as markets, sidewalks, bridges or sheds or any other public inftrastructure are considered littering or violation of election laws.
There were even candidates who had started to circulate hand-outs or leaflets, bearing their faces and”credentials” at the back, during “discreet” caucuses or meetings with their “friends” who were actually political leaders setting up strategies and tactics to be carried out when the official campaign period starts.
One of the so-called “early campaigning” tactics use by candidates is the social media like Facebook, where a lot of accounts of the candidates are being used as a vehicle to advance their causes or program of government, this early.
Other national bets like Vice President Jejomar Binay, Senator Grace Poe, Senator Bongbong Marcos, Senator Cayetano, and Duterte, among others, have been using TV for their “early campaign.”
However, the Comelec said these activities may not be considered “early campaigning” because the campaign period has not started yet, but some observers have argued that “early campaigning” acts are certainly those done before the campaign period, otherwise these would no longer be called “early.” (FREEMAN)