Campaign ends Saturday midnight

The campaign ends Saturday night and Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chair Sixto Brillantes Jr. has last-minute reminders to the candidates.

Brillantes warned candidates against distributing or posting campaign materials in schools and other voting centers.

He said that campaigning, which includes distributing sample ballots or pamphlets, and selling or buying alcohol are banned after midnight Saturday.

“I’m giving this warning. Those who put up (campaign materials) in areas where they are illegal, like those near schools or voting centers, we will no longer give you any notice,” Brillantes said in an interview on Friday.

“We will take pictures and gather evidence and we will prosecute you after the elections. It does not mean that just because the elections are over, you can get away with it. That’s not the case,” he said.

“Even if you win, it could still cause your disqualification or your removal from office. So, go ahead if you want to go berserk and post your campaign materials everywhere. Take the risk,” he added.

The police and the military went on full alert throughout the country yesterday in preparation for Monday’s balloting.

Director General Alan Purisima, chief of the Philippine National Police, warned the 130,000 policemen deployed to secure the elections against partisanship, saying they faced administrative cases if they failed to do their job.

“All that they have to do is enforce the law and go after criminals,” Purisima told reporters after awarding medals to a policewoman and eight policemen who had shown excellence in the performance of their duty.

Red alert

Brig. Gen. Domingo Tutaan, spokesperson for the Armed Forces of the Philippines, said the military went on red alert yesterday and would maintain that status until May 15.

“The red alert status is to ensure that all units of the AFP are prepared and are ready for the election next Monday,” Tutaan told reporters at Camp Aguinaldo.

The red alert covers all military personnel, camps, commands and units.

At the Comelec, Brillantes said that the Comelec would go after candidates distributing sample ballots or their equivalents on Election Day.

“Maybe there are no more sample ballots because we no longer have manual (elections). They could be distributing pamphlets. That’s illegal. That’s campaigning,” Brillantes said.

“The problem there is that Filipinos are smart. So they hire children to do this and we can’t go after them because they have no liability,” he said.

Brillantes also urged candidates to keep the last campaign day today peaceful as any election-related violence could backfire on the candidates.

Over by midnight

“Yes, it’s very clear that candidates should no longer be campaigning (tomorrow). Campaigning is illegal by 12:01 a.m. Sunday. Saturday midnight is the end of the campaign,” Brillantes said.

Brillantes said the Comelec was very quite prepared for the elections even though its critics continued to cast doubts on the credibility of the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines.

“For Monday, we are prepared. We are actually, I would say, 99.99999 percent prepared. It’s not perfect but almost. That’s how we are prepared,” Brillantes said.

“We worked so hard for this. I will not claim this to be my own. I know many worked for this,” he added.

Brillantes said the Comelec would initialize the canvassing system at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) around noon on Monday and later convene as the National Board on Canvassers to tally the results in the senatorial and party-list races.

“Yes, I would say by Monday night or midnight we might have a trend (in the senatorial race). Maybe we could see who is leading among the first four. We will be receiving (reports) from all over the country,” he said.

Purisima said the PNP would monitor events in parts of the country where the electoral contests are most intense.

He said the PNP would amend its policy on investigating election violence for a closer look on politically motivated killings, which may happen within or outside the campaign period.

The motive for the crimes should be directly connected to political feuds, he said.

NPA attack condemned

The military yesterday condemned the attacks of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) in Kalinga and Camarines Sur provinces where two soldiers and a militiaman were killed.

“We would like to laud the heroism and the supreme sacrifice made by these soldiers. We are proud of them for their dedication, heroism and bravery. They made, really, the ultimate sacrifice by laying down their lives,” Tutaan said.

The soldiers, part of the Army 17th Infantry Battalion, were securing the transportation of computer equipment by Comelec personnel in Barangay Naneng, Tabuk City, in Kalinga when the communist insurgents attacked.

Five other soldiers were wounded in the fire fight.

The rebels failed to get any ballot scanners. With reports from Nikko Dizon in Manila; Tonette Orejas and Carmela Reyes-Estrope, Inquirer Central Luzon; Vincent Cabreza and Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon