Only Vatican can order removal of RH posters, says Bacolod diocese

BACOLOD CITY , Philippines   â€“ Only the Vatican can order the Diocese of Bacolod to remove its controversial tarpaulin on the façade of San Sebastian Cathedral with the list of senatorial candidates dubbed as Team Buhay (Life) and Team Patay (Patay).

The lawyer of the diocese told The STAR yesterday that “since the tarpaulin is on Church grounds, only the bishop will say when they shall be removed.”

Ralph Sarmiento, one of three legal counsels of Bishop Vicente Navarra and the Diocese of Bacolod, in a text message explained that “since the tarpaulin is connected to the Church’s moral teachings touching on social issues, the Bishop will only receive orders from the Vatican, not from the Comelec (Commission on Elections).”

Sarmiento’s statement was a reply to a report that the Comelec is filing charges against Bishop Navarra and the diocese this week for the church’s refusal to take down the oversized tarpaulin on the Reproductive Health (RH) Law posted on the façade of San Sebastian Cathedral.

“We will commence the proceedings next week for the filing of election offense cases to whoever is behind this, unless restrained by the Supreme Court (SC),” Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. posted on his Twitter account Saturday.

Sarmiento said that the Diocese has no intention to comply with a Comelec rule that infringes on its constitutional rights.

“Constitutional rights take precedence and prevail over mere Comelec resolution,” he said.

The Diocese of Bacolod has sought a temporary restraining order (TRO) from the SC to stop the Comelec from implementing its order to remove the controversial billboard for being “unconstitutional and void.”

Navarra filed last Friday an “urgent petition for certiorari and prohibition with application for preliminary injunction and TRO” against the Comelec and Bacolod election registrar Mavil Majarucon-Sia.

“If the SC does not issue a TRO, the diocese and the bishop are ready to face whatever cases the Comelec intends to file because we believe that it actually has no legal basis for any of its threat,” Sarmiento said.

Brillantes said the Comelec welcomes the petition but maintained “the tarpaulin is an election propaganda and thus covered by the size restriction imposed by law.”

He said that contrary to earlier reports, the estimated size of the tarpaulin is 10 feet by 20 feet, not 6 feet by 10 feet (as reported by Comelec-Bacolod), thus even if it is cut in half, it would still be oversized.

Comelec Resolution 9615 specifies that campaign posters should not exceed 2 x 3 feet.

Brillantes also posted on his Twitter account a photo of the tarpaulin in question, with a comment: I want you to judge. Tell me if this is not oversized? If this is not meant to influence voters?

Mitchelle Abella, another legal counsel of the diocese, earlier explained that the “6 feet by 10 feet size” of the tarpaulin reflects the message that the diocese wanted to convey to its flock: “six feet below the ground” as a symbol of death, and “ten feet standing tall” as the symbol of life.

“The election period is only incidental to this fight. With or without national or local elections, the diocese will oppose the RH law until it is repealed or adequately amended or modified,” Abella said.

The tarpaulin listed the lawmakers who voted in favor of the RH bill as “Team Patay,” and those who voted against the law as “Team Buhay.”

 The Catholic Church has opposed the enactment of the RH Law on the ground that it would promote abortion, hence those who voted in favor of it are called Team Patay, while those who voted against it are Team Buhay.

Brillantes said last week that the Diocese “should take down the posters or they will be charged.”

“The Comelec order is unconstitutional, a violation of the principle of separation of Church and State, and a violation of the freedom of expression of the Church,” Navarra said in his petition with the SC.

Navarra argued that the billboard is covered by the broader constitutional guaranty of freedom of expression, not by election laws or rules and regulations.

He said the Comelec has no jurisdiction over the Church, aside from the fact that the tarpaulin is inside church premises.

Brillantes recognized that the Church is privately owned but maintained that the tarpaulin is still covered by the size restriction under Comelec rules.

“I maintain that election laws including those governing campaign apply to all citizens regardless of faith or persuasion, even the Church,” Brillantes tweeted.

“Freedom of speech and expression must be exercised within the bounds of law. Existing laws set the maximum size allowed for posters,” he added.

Navarra said the billboard would remain in the façade of the cathedral until election day. He said more Church leaders across the country are set to follow his example and will put up similar billboards.

“I’m saddened by the defiance of the local diocese as the Catholic Church is a trusted and long-time partner in securing orderly elections,” Brillantes said.

“We are not being unreasonable - we quietly met and pleaded with the Diocese for its removal, sent them two notices which were both disregarded,” he added.

A question of jurisdiction

Meanwhile, election lawyer Romulo Macalintal said the Church could seek other legal measures other than directly seeking the High Court’s intervention.

“The Diocese should first exhaust all available legal remedies before it could go to the Supreme Court like filing with the Comelec Law Department,” he explained, noting that the High Court may not take action on the petition of the Bacolod diocese for lack of jurisdiction.

Under the Constitution and existing jurisprudence, Macalintal said, the Supreme Court’s power to review Comelec cases is limited to decisions or orders or ruling of the full commission.

“The court does not even have power to review decisions of a division of the Comelec, more so, any order of a mere department of the poll body,” he pointed out.

However, Macalintal said, the diocese may insist on not removing the controversial tarpaulin since the Comelec resolution does not contain provision prohibiting any private person from posting election propaganda materials of whatever size on his own private property.

“For sure there is no issue that the church property is a private property,” Macalintal said, noting that the size requirement for propaganda only applies to materials displayed in public places by “political parties and candidates.”

He explained that “prohibited forms of election propaganda” refer only to propaganda that does not bear the information on the person who paid for the ad.

He said the Comelec resolution does not define “unlawful propaganda materials” insofar as private persons are concerned precisely because they have the right to use or abuse their own properties.

“The petition cannot be filed by the Law Department of the Comelec as it cannot be the complainant, prosecutor or judge rolled into one. It appears that there is no such petition filed against the Diocese of Bacolod,” Macalintal explained.

According to Macalintal, the tarpaulin cannot be considered as election propaganda but merely an expression of the Church’s continuing position against the RH Law.

– Mayen Jaymalin