Comelec warns candidates: Uphold law or go to jail

By EJ Dominic Fernandez
Candidates seeking national positions formally launch their campaign today even as the Commission on Elections regional office warned them to observe and uphold the election laws or go to jail.
The Comelec said it will be the first elections where an electoral candidate can be sanctioned and imprisoned for not following the electoral rules.
Comelec regional director lawyer Wilfred Jay Balisado issued this warning during the weekly Kapehan sa SM.
“There is always a first time,” Balisado said pertaining to Section 261 of the Omnibus Election Code that provides for a penalty of one to six years for election-related violations.
When asked about what is the most serious penalty for violators, Balisado said, “The number one penalty is imprisonment followed by a perpetual absolute disqualification to hold public elective office if a political candidate is tried and convicted of violating the election rules this is without provision.”
“There is always a first time that a candidate can be imprisoned, especially now that the new chairman (COMELEC chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr.) is very strict in abiding by the rules,” he added.
“Just because there were no cases filed against violators in the 2010 elections, doesn’t mean it would be the same this year,” he warned.
“The chairman is very serious in prosecuting,” he said, pointing out an example saying, “a lot of party lists have been disqualified, even though some of them won in the 2010 elections because they did not pass the criteria of a party list.”
With the onset of the campaign period, he encouraged the national candidates and national party lists who will campaign in the Davao region to “please coordinate with our COMELEC offices so that we will be able to know about the common cluster areas where campaign materials are allowed to be posted.”
Balisado bared that there are 2.6 million voters in the Davao region including some 100 thousand new voters.
About the ban on public works, Balisado said that before March 29, Local Government Units and the Department of Public Works and Highways are mandated under the law to submit before the COMELEC a list of ongoing projects whose implementation is scheduled later as there are no prohibitions on this provided that these projects are already settled before March 29 and are not subject for bidding.
On taking advantage of disasters, he said, “no one should take advantage of the disaster, in any way, the aid which will be given to the victims must be coursed to the right agency and Red Cross is our prime mover where the aids must be given to.”
“LGUs should inform us if there is an emergency to provide assistance, they must inform the COMELEC and be coursed to the proper channel,” he added.
Balisado also stressed that TV stations and radio stations are mandated to submit before the COMELEC all contracts between them and the candidate to see how much paid, because it is not just the air time but also the cost.
He also said that later on this week they will start accepting applicants for precinct count optical scan (PCOS) technicians from schools and the Department of Education will be giving them a list of teachers for this job.