COMELEC ensures candidates’
equal access to common poster areas
By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
March
2, 2007
TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte – The
Commission on Elections will ensure equal access to all candidates to the
identified common poster areas all over the country. This directive is contained
in a memorandum issued by Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos to all regional
election directors.
Comelec gave the assurance
that all candidates vying for national and local elective posts would be
required to put only one campaign material for every common poster area
nationwide. All the local government units have already identified common poster
areas in every locality.
In order to see to it that
this directive on One Poster Per Candidate rule is strictly followed, personnel
must be designated to supervise, oversee and monitor the activities at the
common poster areas, the Comelec memorandum directed.
All regional election
directors are required to submit a compliance report to the Comelec central
office in Manila within ten days following the dissemination of the directives.
Comelec Regional Director
Adolfo Ibañez said that the directive aims to accommodate all the national and
local candidates as well as party-list groups. The One Candidate, One Poster
rule on the designated common poster areas will be strictly enforced to ensure a
fair and level playing field for all candidates in this year’s elections, he
added.
Director Ibañez called on all
national, local and party-list bets to follow the directives even as he has
already ordered that the political posters tucked on the trees along the
highways towards Southern Leyte and towards the
Samar Islands be removed.
He also called on the
candidates to instruct their staff to follow the Comelec directives, saying that
it is not really the candidates themselves who put the posters in the prohibited
areas but their followers and supporters. Still, it is the responsibility of the
candidates to see to it that their followers obey the directives.
Candidates must adhere to
Comelec Resolution No. 7767 on the use of common poster areas, he added, but
also clarified that the candidates are allowed to put their posters in front of
their homes, their business, their headquarters and in their relatives’ homes.
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