PoliticalArena.com

On the eve of the start of the campaign period  for national posts in the May 2010 polls, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday warned candidates that any violation of campaign rules would cost them disqualification from the balloting.

“Follow the law,” Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal told the aspirants, who will hit the road today, Tuesday, in their presidential and senatorial bids.

Former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada will kick off his campaign at Plaza Miranda in Manila’s Quiapo district and administration bet Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro, a former Defense secretary, in Antipolo City, east of Manila.

Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino 3rd will launch his bid in northern Tarlac, his home province, and Manuel “Manny” Villar Jr.,  in southern Laguna province. They were leading popular surveys for presidential candidates.

The campaign period for local posts will commence on March 26.

The campaign season itself will end on May 8, or 48 hours before election day, May 10.

Larrazabal said that all candidates will only be allowed to air their political advertisements for 120 minutes on radio and 180 minutes on television.

He added that in 2007, the poll body decided that the limitation would apply to all broadcast networks. “But now, we are going back to per station [limitation]. So candidates and political party-list [groups] have limits [on a] per station basis,” Larrazabal said.

According to him, the aspirants will be allowed to appear in television shows on condition that they will give comments only on specific issues.

Larrazabal said the candidates must ask the Comelec for permission to use the Internet, vehicles and outlets for their political advertisements.

He reminded the wannabes that they should not post campaign materials outside common poster areas that will be provided by elections officers in each municipality.

Based on Comelec Resolution 8785, or Rules Implementing the Fair Election Practices Act, the authorized common poster areas are public places such as plazas, markets and barangay (village) centers.

The resolution, however, bars the candidates from posting campaign materials in public places such as schools, trees, churches and government offices.

Poster areas

Larrazabal said that owners of private property can put posters of candidates on their walls or other parts of their property as long as the posters each measure two feet by three feet.

Billboards and posters that exceed that measurement will be dismantled at the start of the election campaign period.

Larrazabal said that under Comelec Resolution 8785, one poster per 5,000 voters in an area will only be allowed.

The candidates, he added, are also prohibited from providing allowances for transportation, food and other needs of their supporters five hours before and after an election rally.

Lakas to stick to issues

The Lakas-Kampi Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD) coalition also on Monday vowed to launch a campaign promoting solely the party’s platform without resorting to mudslinging against candidates of other parties.

The administration party will hold its first proclamation rally on Wednesday in Antipolo City.

Speaking before the weekly “Straight to the Point” news forum held at Kopiroti in Quezon City, Prospero Pichay, the party’s senior vice president for membership and recruitment,  called on the other candidates not to resort to smear jobs.

“Engaging in negative campaigning will not help the country, What the people need now is for the candidates to show their platform for the next six years,” he said.

Pichay, the campaign manager of the Lakas-Kampi CMD senatorial candidates, claimed that some aspirants have turned to criticizing President Gloria Arroyo just to gain popularity.

He stressed that being identified with the administration is not a “kiss of death,” adding that President Arroyo’s endorsement could deliver 25 to 30 percent of the votes for the administration candidates.

The President had said that she will not endorse Teodoro.

Lakas-Kampi CMD has six senatorial candidates: Raul Lambino, Senators Lito Lapid and Ramon Revilla Jr., radio broadcaster Rey Langit, Cabinet Secretary Silvestre Bello 3rd and Mayor Ramon Guico of Binalonan town, Pangasinan province, also the president of the League of Municipalities.

Pichay explained the decision to field six candidates instead of 12 was part of their strategy to ensure that all administration senatorial candidates will make it to the top 12.

He said that the Lakas-Kampi CMD candidates  would support each other toward victory, the reason why the party decided not to declare any area a “free zone.”

‘Noynoy’ in Tarlac

The Liberal Party (LP) is all geared up for the kick-off of its official campaign in Tarlac.

Aquino along with his running mate Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas 2nd and the party’s senatorial slate will officially commence the LP’s campaign with a Mass at the Immaculate Conception Church in Concepcion town at 9 a.m.

This will be followed by a rally also in Concepcion and a wreath-laying at the statue of late Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, the LP bet’s father. Then, the candidates of the party will meet with village officials and later proceed to Capas town in a motorcade.

At 5:30 p.m., Aquino will lead the unveiling and blessing of a monument dedicated to his mother and late President Corazon “Cory” Aquino at the Tarlac City Plaza. A rally will then follow.

The LP’s senatorial ticket includes former Senate President Franklin Drilon, Reps. Ruffy Biazon of Parañaque City (Metro Manila), Teofisto “TG” Guingona of Bukidnon, Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel of Akbayan party-list, former Rep. Nereus ‘Neric” Acosta of Bukidnon, former Senators Ralph Recto and Serge Osmena, Sonia Roco of Aksyon Demokratiko, detained Brig. Gen. Danny Lim, lawyer Alex Lacson, Dr. Martin Bautista and women’s rights advocate Yasmin Busran Lao.

90-day journey for Villar

Villar, the presidential candidate of the Nacionalista Party (NP), and the rest of the NP national slate will kick off what they called “a 90-day journey to a better Philippines” with a rally Tuesday afternoon in Calamba, Laguna, hometown of national hero Dr. Jose Rizal.

The NP said in a statement that it chose Laguna “not because it is our bailiwick but because we believe that our vow to serve the people will assume a sacred dimension if made in the place symbolized by our national hero.”

“The cradle of heroes is always the best springboard of change,” the NP statement added.

The 90-day national campaign period starts with Villar supposedly overtaking early leader Aquino in surveys. Villar also supposedly got a 46-percent rating against the 45 percent of Aquino in the latest Pulse Asia survey  in a two-cornered fight.

Villar will be joined in the kick-off of his 90-day campaign by his running mate, Sen. Loren Legarda of the Nationalist People’s Coalition and their senatorial candidates, among them re-electionist Pia Cayetano, Miriam Defensor Santiago and Susan “Toots” Ople, Gwen Pimentel, Adel Tamano and former Rep. Gilbert Remulla of Cavite.

Santiago is the head of the People’s Reform Party and is running as guest candidate of the NP. The other guest candidates are Senator Revilla, Rep. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. of Ilocos Norte, Representatives Satur Ocampo and Liza Maza of Bayan Muna party-list, Ramon Mitra 3rd and detained Marine Col. Ariel Querubin.

The trip from Manila to Calamba usually takes a little over one hour, but that of the NP ticket will take about six hours as the candidates will be making stopovers in various public markets.

The NP campaign headquarters still have to release other rallies scheduled for the week. The Villar campaign, however, is expected to depend more on media exposure than on the traditional rallies in public plazas.

The NP platform of government is anchored on winning the war against poverty.

‘Erap’ in Plaza Miranda

Estrada will lead the proclamation rally of his Partido ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) at the Plaza Miranda in Manila at 4 p.m. of  Tuesday.

Margaux Salcedo, Estrada’s spokesman, said that PMP’s guest candidates will also attend the proclamation. Estrada’s guest candidates include Santiago, Revilla and detained Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim.

The mainstays in the PMP senatorial slate are lawyer J.V. Bautista, Rep. Rodolfo Plaza of Agusan del Sur, Jose De Venecia 3rd and Jun Lozada.

Mayor Jejomar Binay of Makati City, the PMP’s vice-presidential candidate, will also be on hand to deliver a speech.

Salcedo said that the Estrada platform will concentrate on his unfinished programs while he was president, particularly the pro-poor ones.

She added that they had coordinated with authorities in Manila to assure that the proclamation rally would be peaceful.

Printing of ballots

After two delays, printing of official ballots that would be used for the 2010 polls started on Monday.

The ballots were originally scheduled for printing on January 25, but the Comelec had to move it to February 1 because of security considerations and the disqualification cases pending before the commission en banc.

“The NPO [National Printing Office] is now in the process of printing the official ballots,” Larrazabal said.

He added that the ballot printing could no longer be delayed because the ones that would be used in the  Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) are longer.

“[Ballots for the] ARMM area is 27 inches long because of the Arabic translation. There were some adjustments that had to be made, some calibration because the [regular] ballot is shorter than that,” Larrazabal said.

The ballots to be used for the rest of the country are each 25 inches long.

Those for ARMM will be printed first because of a proposal to hold the elections there at an earlier date as proposed by the Senate.

The printing office is set to print some 50.723 million ballots, which approximate the number of registered voters for the May polls.

The ballots will have the names of national candidates printed on the front and the names of the local candidates at the back.

Bernice Camille V. Bauzon, Efren L. Danao, Cris G. Odronia, Jefferson Antiporda, Francis Earl A. Cueto And Rochelle Mae A. Cenon

The Manila Times
Monday, 08 February 2010 21:39