Comelec can’t go after people in political ads

By LITO RULONA
Correspondent

THIS early, political advertisements have started flooding the mainstream media but, legally, the politicians could not be charged with violating election laws, a Commission on Elections (Comelec) director said.

Lawyer Carlito Ravelo, provincial director of the Comelec, said the ads do not constitute premature campaigning for this simple reason: the election period hasn’t started yet.

“Technically, under election law, nobody is campaigning because there is no candidate yet,” Ravelo told reporters during the Mediakonek program at the Cagayan de Oro Press Club (COPC).

Based on the law, anyone who files his certificate of candidacy can only be considered a candidate at the start of the campaign period, he pointed out.
This means, according to Ravelo, that none of the politicians in the political ads are considered candidates and therefore, they could not be held liable for violation of election laws.

Unless the Comelec changes the schedule, the election period will officially start this October. The filing of certificates of candidacy would be from Oct. 12 to Oct. 16.
While many people see the ads as part of political campaigns to win in next year’s elections, Ravelo said there was nothing the Comelec could do unless there are clear laws the Commission can use to stop the politicians.

He said, “In this country, campaigns usually starts immediately after the end of the last one.”

Ravelo added, “There are no present prohibitions for them from what they are doing since they are not considered candidates yet.”

But he said citizens can charge politicians in public office with violation of the Anti-Epal Law if they place their names or images in signages for proposed or ongoing public works projects.