‘Mask up, not shut up’

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is set to conduct today a voting simulation for the May 2022 national and local elections at the San Juan Elementary School in Metro Manila. This is part of the poll body’s preparations for next year’s elections amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a report by OneNews.ph, the Comelec revealed that four classrooms will be used as polling precincts for 3,564 test voters during the simulation, while three other classrooms will be used as holding areas. The simulation aims to come up with measures to decongest polling precincts and complete the voting process in the shortest time possible.

I also learned from OneNews.ph that the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) is crafting new protocols for election campaigns in relation to next year’s polls. DILG Undersecretary Epimaco Densing said that they are consulting with experts in the subcommittee on data analytics to discuss the establishment of new campaign protocols.

The start of the campaign period for national positions is set on February 8, 2022 while that for local positions is set on March 25, 2022. That’s still over a hundred days from today but it’s best to have the guidelines on campaigning formulated and finalized at this time. That’s because candidates and their supporters are expected to conduct their campaign activities this early, considering that the Comelec itself acknowledged that there is no such thing as “premature campaigning” under our laws.

The Supreme Court in the case of Penera versus Comelec declared that a candidate is only liable for election offenses only upon the start of the election period. So even if the Comelec considers premature campaigning a “pernicious act,” it has conceded that there is no law that punishes it.

Under Section 13 of R.A. 9369 which amended Section 11 of R.A. 8436, any person who files his or her certificate of candidacy within the period for filing shall only be considered as a candidate at the start of the campaign period for which he filed his certificate of candidacy. With this loophole in the law, expect the candidates and their supporters to go full blast in campaigning already at this time.

It can be observed in the current political exercise that campaign teams of politicians are not the only ones holding activities for their campaign, citizens’ groups are also organizing their own campaign activities independent from the control of political parties and politicians. I know many friends who have been printing their own campaign t-shirts, tarpaulins, and stickers to give away to volunteers and to show their support for their chosen candidates.

At any time, the Comelec should be the primary voice of authority, in consultation with medical experts, when it comes to regulating campaign activities. With still no end yet in sight to the coronavirus pandemic, there is the most important issue of balancing between the right of a person to convince others to vote for a candidate and the duty of the state to protect the health of its citizens. The impression we must avoid is that regulators with political motives might use the pandemic as a pretext to curtail free speech and peaceful assembly especially in the context of the election.

While campaign events need to be thought through carefully, regulations must be reasonable and should be based on consultation with medical experts and other stakeholders. Outdoor activities, for example, are preferred over indoor activities. I don’t see, for one, the logic behind limiting motorcade activities to 20 vehicles that are not anyway exempted from traffic rules, while indoor political activities featuring dancing and laughter, and with plates and glasses on dining tables, are glossed over with a mere after-the-fact authority to issue show-cause orders.

‘Mask up, not shut up’ should be the underlying precautionary standard when it comes to regulating campaign activities amid the pandemic. Outdoor activities should be favored over indoor ones. And if activities must be done indoors, there should be proper physical distancing and adequate ventilation where CO2 levels are monitored.

Candidates and their supporters need also to help the government by exploring alternative campaigning methods. These methods include a shift to online and digital technology like the use of LCD screens and audio speakers connected to an online videoconferencing application. That way, candidates can remotely and virtually interact with people in separate yet simultaneous small outdoor pulong-pulongs that observe proper distancing.