The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Thursday, March 6, urged incumbent officials seeking reelection in the May 12 midterm polls to remove their images from local government unit (LGU) projects.
Comelec Chairman George Garcia said such an act would be considered election propaganda which would be prohibited once the campaign period for local posts starts on March 28.
“In such instances, they won’t be simple announcement of local projects but can be considered as campaign materials with the name of candidates and are influencing the voters,” he said in a media forum in Manila.
“We request local candidates that are now incumbents to remove your pictures, at least. While their names can’t be avoided as they are indeed the incumbent officials, maybe we can do away with your pictures.”
Garcia said such acts could be accused of committing “abuse of state resources” (ASR) as their images are seen in the local government projects.
The ASR is the misuse of government resources, whether material, human, coercive, regulatory, budgetary, media-related, or legislative, for electoral advantage. It is considered as an election offense.
“It would be better if you will just avoid putting your images in projects using the resources of the city hall or provincial capitol,” he said.
Garcia said they expect the number of campaign materials violations to increase once the local campaign period starts.
He, however, said that local Comelec personnel are prepared to write the corresponding notices to concerned candidates directing them to remove illegal campaign materials.*PNA