LTFRB: Buses with election ads to lose permits

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) will revoke the franchises of provincial and Metro Manila bus companies that would violate the Commission on Elections (Comelec) ban on campaign ads on buses and terminals during the campaign period.

LTFRB Chairman James Jacob said bus companies would face penalties for having election campaign ads on their buses. He said the LTFRB would also cancel the franchises of repeat offenders.

“The only problem we have is that the definition of what campaign ads are is not complete,” Jacob said in an interview. “It would be easier for us if the Comelec had a clear definition.”

An official of a big Metro Manila bus company said the LTFRB had informed bus owners nationwide about the Comelec ban which would be strictly implemented.

“I believe the LTFRB is serious about this order and some bus companies are already cleaning up their buses and terminals. We can’t be too careful because our franchises are at stake,” said the company official who asked not to be named lest he incur the ire of the agency.

Comelec resolution

Comelec Resolution No. 9615 signed on Jan. 15 includes buses and their terminals among the public areas where campaign materials may not be posted during the official campaign period from Feb. 12 to May 11.

The Comelec said infringement of the rule would be “cause for the revocation of a public utility’s franchise and would make the operator liable for an election offense under Section 9 of Republic Act No. 9006.”

The bus company official said the decision would be a big blow to the transportation industry that was hoping to cash in on the multibillion-peso election-spending bonanza, where an ad on the back of a bus would bring in about P10,000 per month.

Inquirer research showed that as of the end of 2012, there were 8,077 bus franchises registered nationwide with a combined fleet of 26,483 units. In Metro Manila there were 391 franchises with a total of 5,342 units.

The bus company official said most operators hoped to generate at least P100 million a month from political ads during the campaign period.

The “commercial ads” of a number of senatorial candidates have been a common sight on buses since a year before next May’s elections.

Product endorsements

But Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. has stressed that political ads in the guise of commercial ads—where a senatorial candidate endorses a product or pushes his or her advocacies—would not be allowed during the three-month campaign period.

Aside from buses and public transport terminals, the Comelec has also cracked down on excessive advertising on television and radio, print media and websites.

Under Comelec Resolution No. 9615, which provided the rules and regulations implementing the Fair Election Act, all prohibited forms of election propaganda shall be removed by the responsible candidate or party or they will be presumed to have committed an election offense.

According to the resolution, illegal forms of propaganda include names, images, logos, brands, insignias, color motifs, initials and other forms of identifiable graphical representation placed by the candidates on public structures or places. With reports from Paolo Montecillo and Jocelyn Uy