DAVAO City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio is set to release an executive order (EO) mandating all local candidates to immediately remove their campaign paraphernalia after the May 9, 2022 elections.
Duterte-Carpio said in her regular interview livestreamed on her official Facebook page Monday, March 21, 2022, that the EO will be released in the coming days.
She said the content of the EO will order all local candidates to create their "cleanup teams."
"We intend to come up with an executive order, ordering all local candidates to create their cleanup teams immediately after election day. We will ask them to clean for three days, May 10, 11, 12," Duterte-Carpio said.
She said these paraphernalia are eyesores, and would even worsen once the campaign period for local positions begins on Friday, March 25.
"Sa pagkakaron nga makita nako nga sakit sa mata ang mga streamer ug tarpaulin sa mga kandidato (As of now, we can see that the streamers and tarpaulins of the candidates are an eyesore), and we expect that it will worsen sa pagsugod [...] sa (in the start of the) local campaign," the mayor said.
According to the Commission on Elections (Comelec), the campaign period for the locally elected positions will start on March 25 until May 7.
In a press statement, Interface Development Intervention for Sustainability (Idis) said it has noted various wastes when the national campaign started on February 8, and that it is expecting more types of wastes to be generated when the local campaign starts on March 25.
Idis said numerous tarpaulins and advertisement banners, along with usage of balloons and confetti, had been visible in every political rally.
"Concerns over the environmental impact of elections are once again rising in the wake of elections, with rival election campaigns producing tons of trash," the group said.
The group also said "only a fraction" is most likely to be recycled.
Idis urged political candidates to practice an "environment-friendly campaign."
Idis Executive Director Mark Peñalver also urged candidates to be more responsible for their waste and spare the trees from posting their campaign materials as it can severely damage the health condition of trees as it is prohibited under Republic Act (RA) 9006 or the Fair Election Act of 2001.
Section 9 of RA 9006 states that posting of campaign materials may only be allowed in common poster areas in public places such as plazas, markets, barangay centers, and the like.
Comelec Resolution No. 10730, dated November 17, 2021, also emphasized that “in no instance shall an election officer designate as common poster areas any trees, plants, shrubs in any public grounds.”