Cayetano joins bid to stop airtime limit on poll ads

MANILA, Philippines - Re-electionist Senator Alan Peter Cayetano yesterday joined the bid in the Supreme Court (SC) to stop the limit imposed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on the airtime of campaign advertisements for the May polls.

In a 43-page petition for intervention, Cayetano has supported the plea in petitions filed earlier by broadcast giants GMA Network Corp. and ABC Development Corp., parent company of TV5, for issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the Comelec regulation on campaign ads.

“Putting limit on the advertising time of a candidate is unconstitutional. It limits the people “ right to information,” he told reporters in the High Court.

Cayetano, who is seeking re-election to the Senate under the ruling Liberal Party coalition, argued that Resolutions 9615 and 9631 of the poll body “smacks of prior restraint” and are therefore a violation of the constitutional freedom of speech and expression.

In explaining this, he said the intent of Republic Act 9006, or the Fair Elections Act which restricts airtime of campaign ads on a per station basis, was “to equalize advertising opportunities among candidates and also to control their spending.”

“Comelec now goes outside that by resolving to restrict airtime aggregately. This actually has the opposite effect,”  Cayetano stressed.

Cayetano also pointed out that the limit has an adverse effect on the voters “right” to be informed and to make the right choice when they vote.”

“I am pushing for a more mature system of elections wherein leveling the playing field means we focus more on enhancing people participation rather than increasing regulations,” Cayetano added.

Cayetano also questioned the Comelec regulation during an earlier joint congressional oversight committee hearing on the automated election system. He believes it will be best for the poll body to focus on monitoring the campaign spending and source of funds of candidates rather than zeroing in on airtime of their ads.

The SC directed the Comelec last month to answer the consolidated petitions of GMA7 and TV5.

In a 56-page petition for certiorari, GMA7 asked the SC to enjoin the poll body from implementing its Resolutions 9615 and 9631.

GMA7 argued that the limits imposed by Comelec on the total number of minutes for a national or local candidate’s broadcast campaign were “too restrictive.”

In a separate 86-page petition, TV5 raised the same arguments and also questioned the Comelec rule on prior notice for newscasts, interviews and/or guestings of candidates for purposes of monitoring.

TV5 argued that the rule “is unconstitutional because it constitutes prior restraint on the freedom of speech, expression and the press.”

The Comelec rule gives national candidates only 120 minutes in all TV networks and 180 minutes in all radio stations, while local candidates get only 60 minutes in all TV networks and 90 minutes in all radio stations.

The Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas has also objected to the rule, which allegedly jeopardizes public interest, editorial independence, and health of political candidates.