Group asks Comelec: Expose bets engaged in premature campaigning

CEBU, Philippines — A partylist group has asked Commission on Elections (Comelec) Spokesperson James Jimenez to disclose the candidates who may have engaged in premature campaigning.

Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM), in a statement, said that the poll body’s spokesperson posted in his Twitter account Thursday that “ultimately, the only real non-legislative solution to premature campaigning is to not vote for those who indulge in it”.

“We at PLM share the belief with Jimenez that the voting public is the supreme authority to make or un-make any aspirant for a public post but this is only effective if the electorate has an informed choice,” said Benjo Basas, the group’s first nominee.

The group insisted that ostracizing candidates engaged in premature campaigning can only be effective if Jimenez divulge the identities of those who spend millions of pesos in advertisements before the official start of the campaign period in a bid to increase voters’ awareness on their candidacies.

“The public would welcome every bit of information the Comelec can provide on the activities, background and positions on pertinent national issues of the candidates,” Basas said.

The group urged the poll body that despite the absence of a law prohibiting premature campaigning, it still has perform its mandate of holding free, fair and honest elections.

They compelled the commission to enhance its voter education programs in order to assist the public in making informed choices.

Basas insists that without the Comelec’s active role in voters’ education, it would be difficult for groups like the PLM, who are composed of marginalized sectors, to vie for congressional seats against affluent, incumbent and celebrity-endorsed candidates.

Meanwhile, Leody de Guzman, candidate for senator under PLM, likewise lamented that besides the lack of a law to ban premature campaigning, parties such as his will also have to contend with “other glaring legal loopholes” such as the 2013 Supreme Court decision that allowed non-marginalized groups to join the partylist race and the lack of an enabling law to thwart political dynasties from dominating elective posts.

De Guzman, a veteran labor leader and street parliamentarian, vowed to work in the dismantling of these “legal impediments that hinder the impoverished majority of Filipinos from playing an active role in politics instead of being mere voters and taxpayers of the political elite”.

PLM is running on a platform of immediate economic relief for the workers and the poor and the legislation of extensive, structural economic and political reforms. (FREEMAN)