THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday said it is considering starting the election period for the May 2025 national and local polls earlier than January 12 to empower the poll body against election law violators.
Speaking at a press conference, Comelec chairman George Garcia said: “We may look into advancing the election period. We cannot change the campaign period, but we can do so with the election period.”
Garcia noted that under the Omnibus Election Code (OEC), the election period shall commence 90 days before the day of the election “unless otherwise fixed in special cases by the Comelec.”
For the May 2025 polls, the election period is scheduled to run from January 12 to June 11, 2025 as per Comelec Resolution No. 10999.
Garcia said the proposal of an earlier election period is aimed at empowering the Comelec to run after those who commit violations prior to the election period.
The Comelec plan was backed by Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra, who cited the premature campaigning activities of candidates as an example of such acts.
“The election is still far off and yet several personalities come out with their tarpaulins and commercials and so on as part of their campaign strategy. But we have this law that we cannot consider them as premature campaigning yet,” said Guevarra.
Under the Poll Automation Law, “any person who files his certificate of candidacy shall only be considered as a candidate at the start of the campaign period,” and that “unlawful acts applicable to a candidate shall be in effect only upon the start of the campaign period.”
The provision has been affirmed by the 2009 Supreme Court case of Peñera vs Comelec, which paved the way for the removal of premature campaigning as an election offense.
Garcia and Guevarra said the long-term solution to premature campaigning lies in the amendment of the OEC, which was passed in December 1985.
They agreed that the OEC is outdated and needs to be updated.
“The Comelec can only be effective in implementing the law if the law is updated. It will be hard to do so with a law passed 60 years or 20 years ago,” said Garcia.
“Because the law is very old, it’s difficult to implement them now. Even the Supreme Court is having difficulty deciding on cases since the present circumstances doesn’t jive with our law,” said Guevarra.
The poll chief, however, admitted that there may no longer be enough time to make the amendments with the next elections less than a year away.
“Without preempting our Congress, there is a high possibility that it will be difficult to pass considering the time left,” said Garcia.
