SC ruling applies fairly to all poll bets, says Macalintal

By Perfecto T. Raymundo

MANILA, Nov. 26 – Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal on Thursday said that the decision of the Supreme Court (SC) on premature campaigning will be applied fairly to all candidates in the May 10, 2010 automated elections.

Macalintal said that all the candidates in the forthcoming elections could use the recent SC ruling on premature campaigning.

The SC, in a decision promulgated on Wednesday, said that the candidates could still run their infomercials before the campaign period as such infomercials were just part of the "freedom of expression" as enshrined in the 1987 Constitution.

It ruled that those who had filed their certificates of candidacy (COCs) before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) were not yet considered as candidates but only upon the start of the campaign period.

The Comelec has set the filing of COCs from Nov. 20, 2009 to Dec. 1, 2009 for those seeking elective post in the May 2010 elections.

The campaign period for national post will start on Feb. 9, 2010 and March 16, 2010 for local post.

Macalintal said the infomercials, which are the advertisements made by the candidates, were still allowed even after they had filed their COCs, but the same infomercials should be ran before campaign period starts.

The elections lawyer said that the SC used as basis the inalienable right to "freedom of expression", such that the SC ruling set aside Section 18 of the Omnibus Election Code, which is applicable only on manual election and not on automated election. (PNA)

RMA/PTR

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