‘Face-to-face 2021 campaign ban invites popularity contest’

MANILA, Philippines — If the face-to-face campaign would be prohibited in next year’s general elections, it just might end up as a “popularity contest,” an official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) warned yesterday.

Fr. Jerome Secillano, CBCP public affairs committee executive secretary, said if the Commission on Elections (Comelec) pushes through with plans to ban face-to-face campaigning in the 2022 polls, it would benefit mainly prominent politicians.

“It’s the circumstances that dictate such a plan. If that indeed happens, famous candidates who have name-recall will have an advantage over the others,” Secillano pointed out. “The 2022 elections will have the prospect of being once again a popularity contest.”

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez earlier said they are making preparations for the 2022 polls on the assumption that the coronavirus pandemic would persist well into the elections.

To avoid the possibility of further transmitting the virus, it considered possible changes to the election campaign rules, including prohibiting door-to-door campaigns and talking to people.

But the poll body said it would also have to coordinate with the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque had said it was still “too early” to discuss whether or not a face-to-face campaign for the upcoming polls should be banned.