"DAANG Matuwid" was used as a nickname by the Aquino administration's standard bearer Manuel Roxas II and his running mate Leni Robredo, but former Comelec commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal on Monday said the government must now take down all posts from its Official Gazette that contains that nickname.
Larrazabal cited a post from the Official Gazette, the Philippine government's official website, containing a hashtag of #DahilDaangMatuwidTayo in any projects or progress report of the country.
"Notice anything with this post of the Official Gazette? It contains the 'nickname' of two candidates in the ballot," said Larrazabal, the legal counsel of the Nacionalista Party Coalition.
"This is not allowed. This is an election offense punishable by imprisonment."
Larrazabal said the government may have committed an election offense for allowing Roxas and Robredo to use "Daang Matuwid" as part of their names on the ballot, and to use "Daang matuwid" or "Tuwid na daan" in all its public announcements, tarpaulins or ads.
"Of note is the fact that when the government allowed Roxas and Robredo to use 'Daang Matuwid' as part of their names on the ballot, and at the same time to continue to use 'Daang matuwid' or 'Tuwid na daan' in all its announcements, tarpaulins, ads, etc., during the campaign period, the government may have committed, and up to now has been committing, an election offense," Larrazabal said.
He said the use of public funds "under any guise whatsoever, directly or indirectly" for any election campaign or for any partisan political activity was illegal.
Comelec spokesman James Jimenez refused to comment on the use of the "Daang Matuwid" slogan, but said they would address the matter once a petition was filed against it. Sara Susanne D. Fabunan
When asked if "Daang Matuwid" was Roxas' nickname, Jimenez maintained that "yan ang nilagay niya as nickname or stage name sa CoC niya."
He also said he did not see anything wrong if two candidates who running for different positions used the same nickname or stage name.
However, Larrazabal said both candidates were using two nicknames in the ballot. One was the nickname "Mar" and the other the nickname "Leni" and then the Daang Matuwid slogan.