“Sometimes, the Comelec has that remarkable knack of shooting itself in the foot.”
As we all know, the Comelec is the guardian of the integrity of our elections. It is the primary government agency tasked by the Constitution to ensure fair, honest and peaceful elections. Every time we have elections, the Comelec basically becomes the most powerful government agency because in a way, it takes over the reins of government. Since we are having elections every three years, one can appreciate the kind of power the Comelec wields. Public work projects, for instance, must secure Comelec exemption if a certain project can proceed during the election period or not. Rotation or assignment of key government personnel must also be cleared by the Comelec. The best demonstration of this power is the matter of posting election campaign materials. All political parties and candidates are required to post their campaign materials in common areas. All the sizes of these posters are prescribed and if this is not followed, these posters are removed and confiscated in what we all know as Oplan Baklas by roving inspectors from the Comelec and local government representatives who sometimes are not given the same instructions. Even posters inside private properties are not spared by the overzealous inspectors of the poll body.
This is the reason why the camp of VP Leni Robredo is complaining. The Comelec splashed a white paint over a mural of the Vice President and her running mate inside a private property. One wonders whether that was absolutely necessary. The rationale of the Comelec as the agency’s spokesperson said is to level the playing field when it comes to propaganda by the candidates.
But is this way to level the playing field? It may appear to be so at first glance but after careful analysis, the effort is actually impractical and misplaced. If I remember correctly, the practice of having a common area for election posters was to reduce election clutter which were difficult to clean after every election. This is especially true with the pasting of old paper campaign materials in public places which were difficult to clean and can remain an eye sore for years. But most election campaign posters nowadays are easy to clean being disposable like tarpaulins that are mostly used. Most of the common areas for posters are not also big enough to accommodate all the signages of national and local candidates. Besides, these posters in common areas are only good for pedestrians and almost useless to motorists because of the difficulty of reading the posters in moving vehicles.
All the press releases of the Comelec showing roving inspectors destroying and confiscating tarpaulin campaign posters are unnecessary and should be stopped altogether. Furthermore, limiting the display of campaign materials can be argued as denial to free speech. In addition, election posters make our democratic elections lovelier and cleaning the clutter is a small price to pay for the exercise. Instead, the Comelec should direct its efforts to more meaningful activities that will ensure fair and honest elections. For instance, why is the Comelec not targeting and policing social media where most of the public is getting their political news according to a recent survey? There are plenty of false and questionable releases that we read on social media that are not being deleted. Another is the proliferation of poll surveys trying to condition the minds of the voters. And shouldn’t the Comelec stop the publication of these poll surveys 45 days before the elections, to be fair to everyone? Another area is whether the Comelec is technically competent to ensure that there will be no interference in the electronic transmission of the votes.
Although the public has been informed that the operating program for the elections is now under the custody of the Banco Sentral ng Pilipinas, what really matters most is the forensic ability of the Comelec to monitor, detect and prevent if there is electronic interference.
Another area where the poll body should focus its attention is seeing to it that its decisions are absolutely beyond reproach. It must bear in mind that the public is not stupid. Waiting too long before releasing a decision is not helpful for the reputation of the poll body. The disqualification case of BBM for example should have been handled decisively with the decision being released at the earliest possible time. It was the wait that made people wonder what was causing the delay.
It does not also help to install red and green lights which are the colors of a presidential team at the entrance of the Comelec’s main office.
Sometimes, the Comelec has that remarkable knack of shooting itself in the foot and achieving the very opposite of what it wants to accomplish.
