Lawmakers file bill barring officials from endorsing products

Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez. Photo from congress.gov.ph

MANILA, Philippines—One senator endorses a hotdog, a razor, and a wristwatch, while another one is the face of a computer school. Two of their colleagues have appeared in TV commercials promoting detergent products.

So what’s wrong with politicians working as product endorsers?

A lot, in the eyes of two congressmen who have filed a bill that would penalize public officials, whether elected or appointed, who engage in product advertising, especially in time for elections.

Under House Bill No. 2571, such officials would be removed from office, disqualified from holding any other government position or running “for any position in the next election.” They would also be slapped a “fine in an amount not less than double the amount of the value of the advertisement.”

“Whatever reason these public officials may have in doing such advertisements is immaterial,” Representatives Rufus and Maximo Rodriguez said in the explanatory note of HB 2571. “The fact remains that these advertisements give them undue advantage over other prospective candidates. Further, they may face conflict of interest should an investigation be conducted by them on the products they are endorsing.”

The proposed law bans the endorsement or advertisement of “any product or service in any form or medium” by government officials.

Senator Francis Escudero, one of the front-runners in surveys regarding the 2013 senatorial elections, has a number of product endorsements under his name. He is the “brand ambassador” of Frabelle Foods. He even had a cooking demo during the product launch last July.

Escudero also appeared in ads endorsing a computer school, a razor, a wristwatch, and a herbal food supplement.

Escudero’s fellow senator, Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., likewise endorses a computer school. In the past, Senators Pia Cayetano and Loren Legarda appeared in commercials of detergent products.

Representative Juan Edgardo Angara, who is running for senator under the administration ticket, has been seen in product ads that included his father, outgoing Senator Edgardo Angara, and his son.

The bill’s co-authors cited the provision of the Omnibus Election Code, which bars candidates from engaging in an “election campaign or partisan political activity except during the campaign period.”