Campaign for local bets off to slow start – Comelec

MANILA, Philippines – The Holy Week seems to have subdued the first day of the campaign period for local elective positions in Metro Manila, an official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said yesterday.

Temie Lambino, Comelec regional director for the National Capital Region, observed that the Holy Week restrained candidates for local positions from conducting campaign sorties.

The 45-day local campaign period was supposed to start on March 25 but Comelec banned campaigning on March 24 and 25 in observance of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, respectively.

In previous elections, candidates kicked off their campaign by having motorcades and went house-to-house with throngs of supporters in tow. But this year’s start of the campaign period, which fell on Black Saturday, went by without any festivity.

Lambino said it is expected that candidates will go full blast in campaigning today, Easter Sunday.

He also reminded candidates to strictly follow the campaign rules set by Comelec, particularly those pertaining to campaign posters, or face election offense charges.

“Since the start of the national campaign, we have been removing unlawful propaganda materials. Next week, we will intensify our campaign so we remind candidates not to post their materials outside the common poster areas,” he added.    

The Comelec, Department of Public Works and Highways and Metro Manila Development Authority have implemented the Operation Baklas program to get rid of illegal campaign posters. 

Lambino said the Comelec-NCR has been documenting illegal campaign materials and the agency will send notices to erring candidates to take down these materials.

“We give them three days upon receipt of the notice to remove the unlawful materials. If they fail to comply, we will file cases against them,” he added.

Comelec records show that a total of 44,964 candidates are vying for 18,067 local and national positions in the coming elections.

At stake are one seat each for president and vice president, 12 for?senators, 58 for party-list representatives, 235 for House of Representatives, 81 each for governor and vice governor, 772 for? Sangguniang Panlalawigan, 1,1634 each for mayor and vice mayor, 13,532?for Sangugniang Pambayan, one each for Autonomous Region in Muslim?Mindanao governor and vice-governor, and 24 for ARMM regional assembly.

Tagle: political mudslinging worsening

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle regrets seeing candidates engaging in political mudslinging during the campaign.

In yesterday’s report of the CBCPNews, the news service provider of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, Tagle noted that there has been an increase in the incidents of political mudslinging in the recent months.

“There’s been a lot of mudslinging. Regardless of whether it’s true or not, come what may, as long as the rival is overthrown,” Tagle told hundreds of churchgoers at the Manila Cathedral on Good Friday.

He said the relentless attacks at political rivals only show some people’s unbridled “thirst for positions” which is a reflection of the “sad state” of politics.

He also said the “gospel of success” has misguided many people from various sectors, even in the workplaces where crab mentality is common.

“And once the opponent falls, you’ll declare, ‘It is finished!’” Tagle said.

In today’s world, the guiding principle is do not lose, that is why “we are full of jealousy and mudslinging,” he added.

Tagle lamented that the quest for personal success has led many people to forget Jesus’ infinite mercy and love which embraces all mankind, marked by His death on the cross.

He also urged the faithful not to be like Pontius Pilate who, filled with selfish interests, did not have the conscientious principle to stand up for what he knew to be right.

On the other hand, CBCP president and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas urged his fellow priests not “to allow the awards and titles, the position and the experience to blur our memory.”

In the meditation for priests on Chrism Mass on Maundy Thursday at St. John The Evangelist Cathedral in Dagupan City, Villegas noted that prayer is now a duty, not a joy.

The joy in ministry is a thing of the past replaced by exotic vacations, and care and reverence are replaced by contempt and rush. 

“We have forgotten. We have compromised. We have invented excuses,” he said.

“The priesthood is not a reward for virtue; the priesthood is God’s response to our betrayals. The priesthood is not a prize for the pious perfect; it is God’s answer to the three denials of Peter and our own countless denials,” he added. – Evelyn Macairan, Eva Visperas