Poster war

You can see their overexposure in nearly every street – faces and names of politicos in posters and streamers.

The campaign season for congressional and local candidates is still up ahead on March 30, Black Saturday.

But because of a loophole that reshapes the definition of who is considered a candidate, they get away with the shamelesss display.

Technically, there is no such thing as “premature campaigning” anymore because of the 2009 Supreme Court decision in Penera vs Comelec.

The violation can only be committed by a candidate.

But after the High Court said an aspirant who files his certificate of candidacy can only be considered a candidate at the start of the campaign period, you’re left with candidates immune from penalty during a period of a free-for-all.

Look at the mess of posters hanging from posts and wall papering roadside walls in Cebu City. In a far north town of Sta. Fe , a candidate’s poster was nailed to a coconut tree. The environment lawyer who took a photo of that fumed over the transgression on mother nature.

The sight alone convicts the Commission on Elections as a helpless office.

“This is my biggest frustration,” said Comelec Regional Director Temie Lambino, in a forum with the Cebu Citizens-Press Council the other day.

Illegal posters have long been his pet peeve, and he’s right to worry about how this undermines public confidence in the poll body.

“That’s the face of the election. The perception is that if we can’t enforce this requirement just for posters, how much more for other election laws.”

Lambino has set himself up for a big challenge and picked a worthy target.

He promised to release complaint forms for citizens to fill up and file after they directly witness a violation of election laws. It’s supposed to be so easy to use, one can attach a photo of the offending poster, and submit.

How quickly can the Comelec act on these complaints?

Lambino said the poll body can issue a notice of violation to the candidate and a “take down” order to have the posters removed.

By March 30, a full-scale campaign should get underway to remove all campaign posters that exceed the 2 feet by 3 feet maximum size, and those not in their proper place.

Only two areas are considered legitimate – the common poster area designated by the election officer in one’s locality, and in private property where the owner has given consent. Everywhere else is taboo.

(The mansion of a candidate’s biggest supporter may be a private estate but you still can’t mount a billboard there.)

This is a challenge as well to ordinary citizens to get involved in exposing the location of campaign garbage – yes, election posters will eventually end up in the dump– and joining a cleanup drive to take them down.