Remove illegal posters or be delisted, bets told

SEASON’S CLUTTER Campaign posters compete for attention at a tricycle terminal near Ilugin Elementary School, Barangay Pinagbuhatan, Pasig City, in this photo taken on Thursday. —Lyn Rillon

MANILA, Philippines — Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chair George Garcia on Saturday said the first day of the campaigning for local candidates was orderly, although he noted “tons” of illegal election materials were removed and scrapped.

“It was orderly, our first day of local campaign [on Friday], but we removed tons of illegal campaign materials, let’s call them garbage, from various places nationwide,” Garcia said in an interview over radio station dzBB.

The chair said none of the candidates whose faces appeared in the collected illegal campaign materials would be charged yet, as they were placed before Friday.

READ: Local campaign heats up; posters are put on top of each other – Comelec

However, starting Friday, he said local Comelec officers will be sending notices to candidates and parties to remove their campaign materials in places other than the common poster areas. The same with those who post on private property without the owner’s consent or whose posters, billboards, and tarpaulins violate the size specification and requirement to be biodegradable.

“The candidates should remove their illegal materials even if they haven’t received a notice, and if they get one, they should quickly remove them,” Garcia said.

Failure to remove would result in a show-cause order being sent to the candidate if the illegal campaign materials are not removed within three days. This could also be a prelude to the filing of a disqualification case and an election offense.

“We’re not joking about our warning [on illegal posters], we will make an example of someone, and I wish you won’t be that one [because] the Comelec will be assiduous in implementing our rules,” Garcia said.

The Comelec lauded several candidates in Quezon City and the Bicol Region, whom Garcia did not identify, for voluntarily removing their illegally placed campaign posters before Friday.

He also commended one local government unit that suspended the distribution of financial assistance in compliance with the 45-day ban on the spending of public funds, which also started on Friday.