Robredo camp eyes class suit vs Comelec
BY WENDELL VIGILIA and RAYMOND AFRICA
THE camp of opposition presidential candidate Vice President Leni Robredo yesterday slammed what it said was the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec’s) “arbitrary” removal of campaign materials such as posters and tarpaulins displayed on private properties.
Romulo Macalintal, lawyer for the camp of Robredo and her running mate, Sen. Francis Pangilinan, also said they are considering legal action to challenge the “Oplan Baklas” which the Comelec started implementing on Wednesday in Metro Manila.
The tandem of presidential candidate Sen. Panfilo Lacson and running mate Senate President Vicente Sotto III said the Comelec should have come up with clear and specific guidelines on posting and distribution of campaign materials, and on taking selfies of candidates with their supporters.
Re-electionist Sen. Leila de Lima said the Comelec’s taking down of campaign materials set up by non-candidates on their own private property is unconstitutional.
De Lima, a former election lawyer, said noted the Supreme Court has ruled that the Comelec has no right to take down tarpaulins, posters or streamers set up by non-candidates on their own private property.
She said Comelec Resolution 10730 “requiring campaign materials posted on private property to comply with the regulation size in accordance with the Fair Elections Act is therefore only applicable if it is the candidate who posted the same upon the owner’s consent.”
“It does not apply if the material is posted upon the volition and initiative of the private property owner himself, and without any participation from the candidate. This is the property owner’s exercise of his free speech,” she added.
The Comelec started taking down illegally posted tarpaulins, posters and billboards in Metro Manila on Wednesday, a week after the campaign period for the May 9 elections began.
Among those removed in Pasay, Makati, Mandaluyong, Quezon, Pasig, and Caloocan cities were oversized campaign materials and those posted outside Comelec-designated common poster areas.
Supporters of Robredo and Pangilinan are protesting the removal of their campaign paraphernalia at their media center on EDSA in Quezon City and at the campaign headquarters of their “Tropang Angat” volunteers in Santiago City, Isabela.
“Respect the private property of our Tropa volunteers. If not, we’ll be forced to file cases for trespassing and destruction of private property against anyone who will deliberately violate the law,” said Pangilinan said in Filipino.
Macalintal, at a joint press conference with Robredo’s spokesman Ibarra Gutierrez, said, “It is very arbitrary and a clear case of abuse of power and discretion, and violation of one’s constitutional right to property. This is what the Comelec has done to those non-candidates who posted alleged oversized campaign materials on their own private properties.”
CLASS SUIT
Macalintal, who represented Robredo in the electoral protest case filed by then defeated vice presidential candidate and now presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. in 2016, said their camp is looking at the possibility of filing a class suit with other presidential bets, stressing that the Comelec is violating Section 1, Article 3 of the Bill of Rights.
“It is very arbitrary act of the Comelec because said persons were never given the chance to be heard which violated the procedure of right to due process when the said campaign materials were removed without any hearing,” he said.
Gutierrez said Robredo is very much concerned over the Comelec’s actions, especially since she is a lawyer who is trying to safeguard the exercise of the rights of every citizen, especially the freedom of speech.
“We are now studying the possibility of filing a case against the Comelec to make the rule clearer on this issue,” he said in Filipino.
Under Comelec Resolution No. 10730, campaign materials cannot be displayed outside authorized common poster areas, in public places, or in private properties without the consent of the owner.
Public places include publicly-owned electronic announcement boards located along highways and streets, motor vehicles used as patrol cars, ambulances, and for other similar purposes, particularly those bearing government license plates; public transport vehicles owned and controlled by the government such as the Metro Rail Transit, Light Rail Transit, and Philippine National Railway trains; waiting sheds, sidewalks, street and lamp posts, electric posts and wires, traffic signage and other signboards erected on public property; and pedestrian overpasses and underpasses, flyovers and underpasses, bridges, main thoroughfares, center islands of roads and highways.
The Comelec rules also provide that the size of pamphlets, leaflets, cards, decals, stickers, or other written or printed materials must not exceed 8 1/2 inches in width and 14 inches in length. Similarly, cloth, paper, or cardboard posters cannot be bigger than two feet by three feet.
Macalintal said the arbitrary rules should not be used against private citizens who voluntarily post campaign materials on private properties, sometimes even spending their own money for printing.
He said the removal of the campaign materials was “a clear case of abuse of power and discretion and violation of one’s constitutional right to property,” adding that the removal of the tarpaulins without a hearing also violated its owner’s right to due process.
He said the Comelec also violate the law against trespassing and seizure of property without any warrant. He said authorities do not even have the right to enter private property without appropriate warrants “even if someone is hiding 1,000 grenades and 1,000 machine guns.”
“How much more when they’re looking for posters which does not in any way endanger any interest of the government, it does not violate the rights of other people?” said.
Macalintal also laughed off the rule on placing campaign materials at common poster areas, noting that the total size mandated by the Comelec should not exceed 12 by 16 feet.
If 10 candidates for president, nine for vice president, 64 Senate bets, and 170 party-list groups share the same small space, he said, each of them can only use a poster sized 0.04 by 0.06-feet.
“Can you imagine how absurd the regulation is?” he said. “You’ll need a microscope, a telescope to see what’s there at the common poster area,” he said.
Lacson said the rule on campaign materials which do not conform to its standards could have rights issues.
“This is my property and I can do anything on it as long as I don’t hurt anyone. Why will you prohibit it? If I put up a cannon which is aimed at something or is threatening someone, the owner of the property can be liable,” Lacson said in Filipino at a conference.
Sotto said the Comelec’s rule on illegal campaign materials can be used by opponents.
“For example, I will look for a vacant lot and I will put up a tarpaulin measuring 50 feet by 50 feet with Sen. (Emmanuel) Pacquiao’s image. That’s what I’m talking about. That’s like the ‘no vax, no ride’ policy which was not well thought of,” Sotto said in Filipino, referring to presidential candidate Pacquiao.
