DOH rejects calls to ease campaign health protocols

Leni, other bets slam Oplan Baklas on private property

The Department of Health (DOH) yesterday rejected calls by some candidates for the easing of health protocols for in-person campaigning.

Instead of relaxing rules, Health Secretary Francisco Duque has urged candidates to consider the reality of the pandemic and just think of other campaign strategies.

“Basta mag-mask kayo. Tapos, hanggang sa kung kakayanin, huwag naman yung masyadong dikit-dikit parang sardinas. Masama naman yung ganun (Just wear masks. And as much as possible, avoid overcrowding like sardines. That’s bad),” Duque said in a radio interview.

Duque said the public, as well as the candidates, should consider their safety while learning to live with the pandemic. He said candidates are taking risks when mingling with people and vice versa.

“They should be more careful,” he stressed.

He noted that the ongoing political campaign has not triggered an uptick in COVID cases so far.

“It appears that it is not causing a spike in cases since we are still seeing a downward trend,” Duque noted.

Meanwhile, “Oplan Baklas” will continue, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) made it clear yesterday as it dismissed accusations that enforcers committed abuse when they took down and seized campaign materials posted in private properties.

“I would recommend to anyone who has a problem with what we are doing to file a complaint about what we are doing. In the meantime, we are taking steps to make sure that our laws are being complied with,” Comelec spokesman James Jimenez told reporters.

He emphasized there’s no stopping Oplan Baklas. “Again, if anyone feels that they have an action against the Comelec, they should pursue that action,” he added.

The Comelec on Wednesday started removing campaign materials deemed illegally posted or those whose sizes were not allowed.

Retired Comelec commissioner Rowena Guanzon and several groups have called on the poll body to stop taking down and confiscating election campaign materials from properties of non-candidates.

In a Twitter post, Guanzon reminded the Comelec of the 2015 Supreme Court ruling on the case of the Diocese of Bacolod against the Comelec, wherein the SC stated that the poll body should not remove posters in private properties.

In the same ruling, the high tribunal said “a fixed size for posters render freedom of speech meaningless,” according to Guanzon.

“It is time for the Comelec to review that resolution,” Guanzon said, referring to Comelec Resolution No. 9615 limiting the sizes of campaign materials and allowing the display of posters only in designated areas.

Arbitrary act

For election lawyer Romulo Macalintal, the Comelec overstepped its mandate when it allowed the removal or campaign posters in private properties.

Macalintal said Comelec personnel’s action of entering private premises and tearing posters is a “clear case of abuse of power” and violation of constitutional right to property.

“It was a very arbitrary act of the Comelec because said persons were never given the chance to be heard which violated their procedural right to due process, when said campaign materials were removed without any hearing,” he said at a press conference organized by the camp of Vice President Leni Robredo who is running for president.

“The campaign posters are the properties of the owners who posted them on their private properties. Therefore, their right to use the said property is protected by the said provision of the Constitution,” he added, referring to the constitutional guarantee that “no person shall be deprived of his property without due process of law.”

Robredo’s supporters in different parts of the country have decried the removal of their campaign materials for supposedly violating regulations on the size of posters allowed during the campaign period.

One video played during the briefing showed members of the local police and fire department taking part in the dismantling of the poster inside a private property.

Macalintal said criminal charges such as trespassing and theft may also be filed against those who tore and seized the campaign materials without proper warrant.

He cited Supreme Court decisions recognizing a private individual’s right to freedom of speech.

“The provisions on election propaganda materials and the Republic Act 9006 pertains only to candidates and political parties,” he added, referring to the Fair Elections Act.

“There is nothing there that says that they could be applied to non-candidates… The Comelec cannot prescribe what the law does not provide,” he said, noting affected parties may file a case before the SC but admitted that the process could stretch beyond the May 9 elections.

Supporters, not campaigners

Robredo’s spokesman Barry Gutierrez pointed out that the campaign materials were posted by supporters who are not officially part of the campaign team.

“I just want to make it clear: these are not campaign workers. These are not employees of the campaign. These are ordinary citizens who support or are expressing their support to VP Leni and her ticket,” he added.

While they are studying possible legal actions against Comelec, Gutierrez said the right to action currently belongs to those directly affected by the incidents.

“It’s their private property, they are private persons, they are not connected to the campaign. We have volunteer lawyers… some of them actually offered to take up some of these cases,” he said.

“But whether or not the campaign itself will pursue it… that’s something that we will further study and consider,” he added.

Asked for their guidance for volunteers who may encounter similar incidents, Gutierrez advised them to politely decline the request and cite their rights as private citizens.

But should local Comelec or law enforcement officials insist on removing campaign materials inside private properties, Robredo’s spokesman reminded their supporters not to fight back and just document the situation.

In a separate statement, volunteer group Team Leni Robredo condemned the Comelec’s action.

“The Comelec clampdown is clearly designed to create a climate of fear as more and more people are now standing up and demanding for a change in leadership – one that is clean, efficient and for the people,” it said.

Senatorial candidate and human rights lawyer Chel Diokno also said that the actions of some local Comelec and law enforcement officials are against the Constitution, saying they cannot enter private properties and remove materials without proper warrants and notices.

Legal help, sanctions

In a statement, the Constitutional Law Cluster-UP Law, Recoletos Law Center, and the Civil and Political Rights Clinic-UP Clinical Legal Education Program are offering their services to those whose constitutional rights may have been violated by the Comelec.

Interested parties may contact the group through [email protected] or [email protected].

“Our laws don’t allow the Comelec to summarily (without notice and hearing) intrude, enter and worse, dismantle private property. The Supreme Court (SC) has stated in Adiong v. Comelec that, ‘A sticker may be furnished by a candidate but once the car owner agrees to have it placed on his private vehicle, the expression becomes a statement by the owner, primarily his own and not of anybody else,” the group said.

As protests greeted Oplan Baklas, the Philippine National Police (PNP) has vowed sanctions against the police officers caught on video removing campaign posters.

“Rest assured that those PNP personnel violating existing protocol will be reprimanded if not penalized for their actions,” PNP spokesperson Col. Jean. Fajardo said in an interview with “Agenda” on One News yesterday.

Fajardo reminded police officers that their role in the Comelec’s drive is limited to providing security.

Manila Mayor Isko Moreno expressed sympathy to fellow presidential candidate Robredo and called on the poll body to respect constitutional rights.

Patrido Reporma standard-bearer Sen. Panfilo Lacson and running mate Senate President Vicente Sotto III urged the Comelec to revisit its rules and make them “realistic and implementable.”

Sen. Leila de Lima, for her part, said “the right of citizens to express their electoral preferences through material posted hung or otherwise set up on their own property and made visible publicly is protected speech.” — Janvic Mateo, Marc Jayson Cayabyab, Evelyn Macairan, Emmanuel Tupas, Cecille Suerte, Felipe