Impunity

The other day the Commission on Elections announced that it had taken down at around 10 a.m. campaign materials illegally displayed along several roads going to the NAIA.

Either the Comelec was lying or dreaming, because I still saw a lot of the campaign materials on lampposts and walls when I drove to work in the afternoon. 

A more likely explanation is that the candidates simply ignored the poll body and quickly put up more campaign materials as soon as the Comelec teams were gone. Passing through the same route in Parañaque Wednesday night, I saw vans and mini trucks with long, retractable ladders putting up campaign streamers on lampposts, trees and even power lines, and plastering walls with political posters. Whether from the Olivarez or Bernabe camps (plus a smattering of independents), all candidates in the city are doing the same.

Why do candidates do this, despite a Comelec prohibition on the display of campaign materials outside designated areas?

Because the candidates can, and there are no penalties if they are caught.

A campaign strategist for a political clan in Metro Manila told me that experience has shown them that between “epal” candidates and the “decent” ones who abide by Comelec rules on campaign materials, the epals are the ones who consistently rank high in surveys and eventually win.

The strategist said his candidates have limited their display of campaign materials in deference to the Comelec, but this is mainly because the candidates are running virtually unopposed.

A violator of the rules merely receives a notice from the Comelec, the strategist said. The name of the candidate may be released to the media, but there will be no other penalty. No disqualification. Not even a fine.

Perhaps the Comelec, after all the bluster about using social media to go after violators of election laws including the display of campaign materials, has decided that enforcing the rules isn’t worth the effort, since affected candidates may simply secure a temporary restraining order or its cousin, a status quo ante, from the Supreme Court. If the Comelec tries to carry out its mandate, the SC may reverse Comelec decisions and allow every disqualified candidate or group to run.

Even lower courts are wreaking havoc on the Comelec’s mandate, emasculating the poll body by stopping its orders. Judicial restraint is unheard of in this country.

So it’s anything goes in Philippine elections. You have candidates whom every Juan and Juana (except members of the judiciary) knows are long-time residents of exclusive gated villages in Metro Manila but are allowed to violate residency requirements in running for elective office in the provinces. The country is awash with Manila-based carpetbaggers. Those election residency rules are almost as big a farce as the anti-dynasty provision in the Constitution.

From residency requirements to campaign finance, election rules are openly flouted – and the violations are upheld by the courts. So no one bothers about restrictions on the display of campaign materials.

With the approach of election day, we’re again condemned to seeing every available wall, lamppost, tree and accessible power line defaced by campaign materials.

From the candidates for the Senate down to those seeking barangay posts, the rules are blatantly violated. Some candidates are more brazen than others, putting their names and faces even on government-owned backhoes.

It’s impunity, arising from the weakness of the rule of law, and it permeates many other aspects of life in this country.

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Impunity is the reason why our democracy, with its rambunctious mass media, consistently ranks low in global studies on press freedom.

Coinciding with today’s observance of World Press Freedom Day, Reporters Without Borders released its 2013 world Press Freedom Index. In the top 10, from the best, are Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg, Andorra, Denmark, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Iceland and Sweden. At the bottom, from the worst, are Eritrea, North Korea, Turkmenistan, Syria, Somalia, Iran, China, Vietnam, Cuba and Sudan.

The Philippines was ranked 147th out of 179 countries and territories in terms of respect for media freedom. We should challenge our ranking behind countries including Afghanistan, Libya, Zimbabwe, Jordan, Tunisia, Malaysia and Palestine. I know journalists from those countries who will also raise their eyebrows about the ranking, which puts the Philippines immediately ahead of Russia, Singapore, Iraq and Burma.

Reporters Without Borders noted in its report that while it did not take into account political systems, “it is clear that democracies provide better protection for the freedom to produce and circulate accurate news and information than countries where human rights are flouted.”

So what happened to the land of people power? The impunity in violent attacks on journalists pulled down the Philippines’ ranking.

It’s the same case with the Committee to Protect Journalists, which ranked the Philippines the third worst in the world, for the fourth consecutive year, in its 2013 Impunity Index. The CPJ noted the failure to solve 55 killings of journalists in the past 10 years and the weakness of the rule of law in this country.

The United Nations also observed that corruption contributed to impunity in attacks on journalists, which in our country are often ordered by politicians who control every aspect of the criminal justice system in their bailiwicks.

These politicians come to power violating every election rule, and they govern and perpetuate themselves in power doing the same, because they know they can get away with it. There is no system of accountability.

Our environment and our institutions promote impunity, with politicians setting the ugly example.