By Ferdinand G. Patinio
MANILA, (PNA) — Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Sixto Brillantes said that Comelec cannot prevent aspirants in the October 2013 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections to display posters until the start of the campaign period.
He noted that such act is no longer considered as premature campaigning after the Supreme Court (SC) ruled on a case in 2009.
“Wala naman tayong premature campaigning na so pwede talaga nila gawin ‘yang mga yan,” Brillantes said in an interview.
The poll body chief added that since these people are not yet considered candidates, until they have filed their Certificate of Candiday (COC), there is no law that prevents them to come up with posters.
“Officially, they are not candidates yet, so we cannot stop them from doing that,” Brillantes explained.
The filing of COCs for the barangay and SK elections will be from October 11 to 17 while the campaign period will be from Oct. 18 to 26.
Republic Act 9369 states that: “Any person, who files his certificate of candidacy, shall only be considered as a candidate at the start of the campaign period”.
This was further established by the 2009 Supreme Court case of Penera vs. Comelec, which paved the way for the removal of premature campaigning as an election offense.