Labor chief rapped for alleged electioneering

Another Arroyo administration official has been charged with electioneering before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for allegedly helping in the President’s bid for a fresh term in the May 10 election.

Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas reportedly issued a March 22 memo "extolling the achievements" of Mrs. Arroyo, prompting the political opposition’s lawyers to file charges against her.

Earlier, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) chief Ma. Livia de Leon and PhilHealth government insurance company president Francisco Duque were charged with electioneering in connection with a government project providing free health insurance for one million poor families.

Cabinet secretaries are generally allowed to campaign for the President because their terms are co-terminus with that of the Chief Executive.

Opposition lawyer Demaree Raval disagreed. "That is debatable," Raval told The STAR. "But even if so, Sto. Tomas used the letterhead of the Department and she signed it as secretary of labor. She is using her position to campaign."

Sto. Tomas’ memo, addressed to department employees, was "urging the entire bureaucracy to vote for President Arroyo," Raval said.

Recently, a group of lawyers filed an electioneering complaint against De Leon and Duque in connection with the PhilHealth free medical insurance of the government.

The case stemmed from PhilHealth medical insurance cards that Mrs. Arroyo distributed in campaign rallies.

Mrs. Arroyo has an undue advantage in the campaign because she is the incumbent and therefore should go on leave to level the playing field, the opposition argues.

Malacañang disagrees, saying Mrs. Arroyo still has to do her job even though she is seeking a fresh term. Administration officials reject opposition allegations that Mrs. Arroyo is illegally using taxpayer’s money and government resources in her campaign.

Mrs. Arroyo is the Philippines’ first sitting president since the 1986 ouster of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos to run in a presidential election.

The country’s 1987 Constitution, written after the Marcos dictatorship, provides a single six-year term for the president with no reelection.

Legal experts say Mrs. Arroyo is eligible to run in the presidential contest, however, because she was elected vice president in the 1998 polls.

Mrs. Arroyo will continue Joseph Estrada’s term until the end of June.

Mrs. Arroyo, then the vice president, replaced scandal-tainted Estrada in January 2001 following allegations of massive corruption 31 months into his presidency.

The former movie actor is now detained while on trial for plunder, a charge he denies.

Mrs. Arroyo is facing several lawsuits and petitions, all of them seeking her disqualification from the May presidential race.