Senate ratifies bicam report on ad ban bill

The Senate unanimously ratified last night the bicameral conference committee report lifting the ban on political advertisements and enhancing fair and credible elections.

Sen. Raul Roco, chairman of the Senate panel, said that the measure would make the electorate better informed of the qualifications of candidates, while making sure that even the less moneyed candidates could fairly compete with richer opponents.

A ratification by the House would lead to printing of an enrolled copy of the bill, called Fair Election Act, for signature by President Estrada.

With the ratification, the Eleventh Congress has succeeded where the Ninth and Tenth Congresses had failed. Previous efforts to lift the ad ban failed because the House and the Senate then were uncompromising in their stands on various issues involved in the lifting.

Sen. Tessie Aquino Oreta, a member of the Senate panel, said that if the people are better informed, they could vote more intelligently. "Those less known candidates but with good credentials would no longer be discriminated against," Oreta said.

The bicameral report also allows all elective officials to keep their present positions up to the end of their legal term even if they run for other posts, except for president or vice president.

This repeals a provision of the Omnibus Election Code which states that an elected official shall be considered resigned the moment he files a certificate of candidacy for a higher post.

The exception to those running for presidency and vice president, called the "Renato Cayetano provision," was meant to cure the undue advantage of some senators elected in midterm who can go back to the Senate should they lose in their bid for the presidency or vice presidency.

Another provision prohibits the showing of any movie on the life of a candidate during the campaign period, or of any move portrayed by an actor who is a candidate.

Any media practitioner who runs for public office or is a campaign volunteer for a candidate or political party is required to take a leave of absence from his work during the campaign period.

The other key provisions of the approved bicameral report are:

• Print advertisements shall not exceed one-fourth page in broadsheets and-eighth page in tabloids and magazines.

• Surveys affecting national candidates shall not be published 15 days before an election, and those affecting local candidates, seven days before an election.

• The result of the exit polls may be announced only after the closing of the polls on the election day.

• Each candidate for national office shall have no more than 120 minutes of television advertisement and 180 minutes of radio advertisement, and candidates for local office, 60 and 90 minutes respectively.