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Thursday, February 12, 2004
Comelec shows tougher stance
By Linette C. Ramos & Garry Cabotaje
CEBU CITY -- Starting Thursday, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) will tear down campaign materials posted outside designated areas, amid complaints that it is too lax in enforcing campaign rules.
Mayor Tomas Osmeņa will hire additional personnel for Comelec to tear down illegal campaign posters, although he admitted it's a rule that's hard to enforce.
The Cebu City mayor Wednesday warned all administration and opposition candidates that he will order all election materials removed if these are placed outside the posting areas.
The extra personnel will be hired at the expense of the City Government and will be specifically tasked to look out for illegally posted campaign materials.
The ban on hiring new employees will take effect on March 26 yet, a day after the start of the campaign for local and congressional candidates.
But Cebu City Election Officer Simaco Labata saw no need for the mayor to hire additional personnel, since employees of local government units (LGUs) will be deputized to remove the posters.
Police officials are making their own preparations for the May 10 elections, including the submission of a request for Comelec to allow police personnel to vote early, in case their election duties take them far away from their hometown.
130 areas
While the PNP tries to do its duties both in the polling and police precincts, local governments are supposed to help Comelec enforce rules on the use of propaganda.
"We already asked some departments of the local government to help us because under the Comelec resolution, they can be deputized to tear down posters placed outside the areas that we have identified as posting areas," Labata told Sun.Star.
In Cebu City alone, some 130 posting areas in 54 barangays were identified by Comelec last week.
But if his political rival former mayor Alvin Garcia will put up his posters in places that were not designated as posting areas, Osmeņa said he will be forced to violate the Comelec policy.
"If Alvin is going to put up posters, I'll also put mine. I won't be laid back, I will be compelled to do the same thing because like last elections, he had posters outside the poster areas and I didn't, so people thought I was no longer running," Osmeņa said.
Persecution?
The mayor admitted that it will be difficult to implement the Comelec policy against campaign materials outside the designated areas.
He said that national candidates of the administration party will also have posters all over the city, some of which he might have to remove.
"This is an issue that I honestly do not know how to handle because there are people waiting to cry out political persecution. I'm sending word to Comelec that we can hire people for them to tear down the posters," Osmeņa told a news conference Wednesday.
Other than posters placed outside the posting areas, the mayor said that streamers hung on the walls along streets will also be removed.
Section 91 of the Omnibus Election Code states that Comelec will designate common poster areas that candidates can use for free.
Police votes
For its part, the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 will request the Comelec that policemen whose voting precincts are far from their assigned areas during the May 10 polls be allowed to vote before election day.
The PRO 7 is making such a request to Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos, so it can maximize the deployment of its personnel and ensure honest, orderly and peaceful elections.
Senior Supt. Ronald Roderos, PRO 7 deputy director for operations, said they will ask Abalos that absentee voting be arranged for policemen in Central Visayas a week before the election day.
The absentee voting, however, allows only the policemen to vote for candidates running for national posts such as the president, vice president and senators, he said.
At Camp Sergio Osmeņa alone, the home of PRO 7, Roderos said they have already listed at least 22 policemen who cannot vote on election day because their assignments are far from their hometowns and voting precincts.
The PRO 7's major police units in Central Visayas have already been ordered to collate the names of policemen in their units so they can avail themselves of the Comelec's absentee voting.
Roderos said provincial and city directors were ordered to submit their lists directly to the Comelec Manila and furnish only the Comelec 7 and PRO 7 offices with official copies.
In his speech during last Monday's flag-raising in Camp Sergio Osmeņa, PRO 7 Chief Rolando Garcia pointed out that he will not allow on-duty policemen to skip their election duties just to cast their votes.
(February 12, 2004 issue)
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