SC junks plea vs pre-campaign TV ads of Senate bets

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) has dismissed a petition questioning the TV advertisements of senatorial candidates aired on major networks prior to the campaign period.

The high court held it could not act on the petition for prohibition filed by Samson Alcantara, also a senatorial bet, for lack of valid ground.

Alcantara is the founding chairman and president of ABAKADA Guro party-list and a law professor at the University of Santo Tomas. He also belongs to the Social Justice Society political party.

“The relief sought by the petitioner requires the impugned party to be a tribunal, corporation, board, officer or person, whether exercising judicial, quasi-judicial or ministerial functions,” said the ruling signed by SC second division clerk of court Ma. Lourdes Perfecto.

“In this case, the impugned act subject of the petition for prohibition is being performed by persons in the exercise of neither judicial, quasi-judicial or ministerial functions. Nor can it be said to have been performed without or in excess of jurisdiction or with grave abuse of discretion as to fall within the Court’s expanded power of judicial review under Rule 65 of the Rules of Court,” it stressed.

The high court ruled that Alcantara, a lawyer who placed third in the 1957 Bar exams, failed to sufficiently show that these requisites for the relief he sought exist in the case.

In his seven-page petition filed in December last year, Alcantara asked the high tribunal to stop the broadcast of the ads of Representatives Juan Edgardo Angara (Aurora), Joseph Victor Ejercito (San Juan City), and Juan Ponce Enrile Jr. (Cagayan), Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, and Puerto Princesa Mayor Edward Hagedorn.

He said the respondents “blatantly undermined and violated the letter and spirit” of the Constitution, Republic Act 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, and Article 19 of the Civil Code.

Alcantara believes the TV ads were “intended to enhance their chances in the May elections, and through the same they are able to circumvent with impunity and render nugatory the limitations on airtime allotment for candidates during the campaign period.”

He said the ads should be stopped since the respondents are “already enjoying immense popularity... by reason of their regular media exposure due to the performance of their functions, and by reason of their membership in established political families.”

The ads that Alcantara cited in his complaint were that of Cayetano on “Filipinas 2020,” Angara on “Senior Citizens Law,” Enrile’s “Gusto ko may pagkain kayo,” Ejercito on his “Yon ako,” and Hagedorn on his “Express Padala.”

Alcantara said his rivals “transgressed the ethical proscription against extravagant or ostentatious display of wealth,” noting that TV commercials are expensive.