A tweet made by a certain “colleen dimatulac” (@Cdimapush) claimed that presidential aspirants Ping Lacson and Leni Robredo made an election-related violation by installing billboards along the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) before the campaign period started on February 8, 2022.
The tweet, posted on February 9, 2022, featured a collage of images featuring billboards along NLEX, captioned with “BEFORE CAMPAIGN PERIOD (Taken February 9)” and “Spotted: COMELEC violation!”
CLAIM:
Presidential aspirants Leni Robredo and Ping Lacson violated rules set by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) by setting up campaign materials before the campaign period started.
RATING:
PARTLY FALSE
FACTS:
While many candidates – not only Robredo and Lacson – have indeed posted or distributed materials plastered with their names weeks – or some even months – prior to the start of the official campaign period, the country’s election rules have in fact enabled these candidates and their campaign teams to legally do so.
On October 2, 2021, COMELEC Spokesperson James Jimenez even said that candidates may start campaigning, however he “would discourage that because it can be considered as premature campaigning even though it’s not punishable by law.”
The Omnibus Election Code Section 80 declared it “unlawful” to “engage in an election campaign or partisan political activity except during the campaign period,” however the law provided too much room for interpretation, practically allowing candidates to engage in premature campaigning without incurring election offenses. Usually, campaign posters set up before the commencement of the official campaign period do not contain the word “vote” to easily skirt extant election rules.
WHY IT MATTERS:
As of writing, the original tweet has 67 likes, 21 retweets, and 11 quote retweets. It’s been retweeted by Malou Tiquia as well, an academic with over 28,000 Twitter followers. Her quote retweet currently has 189 likes, 47 retweets, and 9 quote retweets. In the past years, the issue has also been discussed in several academic articles that point out how extant laws, and even a Supreme Court ruling, has enabled premature campaigning, begging the need for more standard and stringent rules devoid of loopholes that candidates can easily abuse. – Lyka Naranjo & Philip Mateo
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