Bacolod Bishop to SC: Stop Comelec from removing poll tarpaulins in church

THIS tarp hangs at San Sebastian Cathedral in Bacolod City. CARLA P. GOMEZ/INQUIRER VISAYAS FILE PHOTO

BACOLOD CITY— Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra on Friday asked the Supreme Court to stop the Commission on Elections (Comelec) from implementing its order to remove the Team Buhay and Team Patay tarpaulins placed in front of the San Sebastian Cathedral in this city.

The Diocese of Bacolod and Navarra filed an urgent petition for certiorari and prohibition, asking the High Tribunal to declare the Comelec order as unconstitutional and void.

The petitioners asked the Supreme Court to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) and/or a writ of preliminary injunction to stop the respondents, Comelec and Bacolod election officer Mavil V. Majarucon-Sia, from enforcing their orders to remove the tarpaulins.

They maintained that the Comelec orders were unconstitutional because these infringed on the petitioners’ freedom of expression and violated the principle of separation of Church and State.

“[The] Petitioners’ position against the RH Law is not only a matter of exercise of its freedom of expression and of conscience but is also a matter of Catholic faith, morals, belief, and of duty,” they said in their petition.

On February 22, Majarucon-Sia issued a notice asking the petitioners to remove the tarpaulins because these were oversized in violation of the Comelec regulations on campaign materials in private properties.

When the diocese did not comply with the notice, the Comelec legal department director Esmeralda Amora-Ladra issued an order on February 27, asking Navarra to remove the tarpaulin immediately or be charged with an election offense.

Amora-Ladra in her letter had called on the Catholic Church to set an example.

“We pray that the Catholic Church will be the first institution to help the Commission on Elections in ensuring the conduct of peaceful, orderly, honest and credible elections,” Amora-Ladra wrote.

But the petitioners claimed that in issuing the orders, the respondents committed grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction.

In a press conference on Thursday, Navarra said the “Team Patay/Team Buhay” tarpaulin and the red flags at the cathedral would stay, and would even be replicated in churches throughout the Bacolod Diocese.

Navarra’s lawyer, Ralph Sarmiento, maintained that the tarpaulins were not illegal.

“It will not be taken down. And the bishop is prepared to go to jail if necessary to stand up for what he believes in although that is not likely to happen,” said Sarmiento, dean of the University of Saint La Salle College of Law in Bacolod City.

He stressed that the Diocese didn’t violate any Comelec rule because the tarpaulin was not an election campaign material but a continuation of the Diocese’s campaign against the Reproductive Health Law.

Navarra maintained that their tarpaulin was not put up to spite anyone as they were merely expressing their stand that the RH Law must be repealed because it is an insult to God.
“Infringing on the right to life was an infringement on all other rights,” he added.

Seven senatorial candidates were tagged by the diocese as members of “Team Patay” for having voted for the approval of the RH law.

They are Juan Edgardo Angara, Francis Escudero, Loren Legarda, Alan Peter Cayetano, Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel, Teddy Casiño and Jack Enrile.

Partylist groups Gabriela, Bayan Muna, Akbayan and Anak Pawis are also on the “Team Patay” list.

Six senatorial candidates, Joseph Victor Ejercito-Estrada, Antonio Trillanes, Gregorio Honasan, Mitos Magsaysay, Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel and Cynthia Villar, were in the Team Buhay list for opposing the RH Law.