EDITORIAL – Empowering the supporters

The campaign period is on for local elective positions effective yesterday, Black Saturday, or Sabado de Gloria in Pinoy Catholic tradition.
The Sabado de Gloria is called such because it marks the first time the “Gloria” will be sung in church since Holy Wednesday.
In this election, former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is running for reelection in the midst of a stack of criminal cases filed against her. But that is not the “Gloria” we are talking about. The singing of “Gloria” will come in time with the singing of campaign glorifications everywhere for those running for office.
More than 44,500 candidates will vie for over 18,000 elective posts in the local level nationwide, and that’s a pretty tall order for the Commission on Elections (Comelec) which is expected to be on tight watch over expected violations of the Omnibus Election Code and the rules laid down by the Comelec.
Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes will surely have his hands full as he expects to have more headaches in the local level than in the national (Senatorial) level. The regional Comelec headed by Wilfred Jay Balisado will have the unenviable task of containing the candidates. The problem area here is not much on how candidates will observe election laws and Comelec rules but on how informed the supporters of these candidates are as far as the rules are concerned.
Empowering the candidates’ supporters is where everything starts. When supporters are well informed of the rules, the candidates whom they support will largely benefit from that. That means no brushes with the Comelec and projecting a good image of the candidates.
It is the other way around when you have a weak support staff ignorant of the rules. It puts the candidates in trouble with the Comelec and the ramifications to their candidacy.
Among the notable violations cited by the Comelec are common poster areas and the required limits for advertising. Of the 33 Senatorial candidates, 22 were reported to have violated the common poster area prohibitions. Now, who gets the blame for that? Naturally,the candidates or the party under the dictum of command responsibility.
The rash of violations should be an eye opener not only for candidates and political parties but also for the Comelec. There is still a dearth of information on election rules. It is also very difficult to identify common poster areas unless these are clearly delineated for the purpose by the Comelec.
The duty of informing supporters falls in the hands of the candidates themselves or the party which they belong to. That is where good governance begins. It’s an oft-neglected aspect of preparing for an election campaign. However, it is also something that has a lot of implications. It’s a very basic rule, although we know for a fact that in this country, the very basic ones are often ignored.
It’s a simple reminder that should not be taken for granted.