Watchdogs side with Comelec on airtime

MANILA, Philippines – For two poll watchdogs, the Supreme Court (SC) order to stop the implementation of campaign airtime limits will only leave poor candidates as casualties and also break the law’s original intent.

Institute for Political and Electoral Reform (IPER) executive director Ramon Casiple said the Brillantes commission’s interpretation of the airtime limits sticks to the “essence” of the law. The executive director of the Legal Network for Truthful Elections (Lente), Luie Guia, said his “personal interpretation” also adheres with that of the current Comelec.

For this year’s elections, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) reverted to the original rule on airtime, based on the Fair Elections Act. This means each candidate for a national position can only air with all TV stations an aggregate of 120 minutes.

However, GMA-7, TV5, and the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas, as well as re-electionist Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, went to the SC to question this. The petitioners want the law interpreted to mean each candidate can buy 120 minutes per TV station.

The SC on Tuesday, April 16, issued a status quo ante (SQA) order to stop the Comelec from implementing its airtime limits.

‘Self-explanatory’

For Casiple, computing an aggregate of 120 minutes is a “self-explanatory” interpretation. Having witnessed the crafting of the law, he said he knew this was the original intent of this piece of legislation.

“Obviously ang pinagbibigyan dito ng SC, ‘yung media na ayaw sa bagong airtime limit,” Casiple said. (Obviously, the SC wants to make a concession to the media, which does not like the new airtime limits.)

Casiple said the SC’s order will benefit only the affluent candidates. “Kaya hindi puwedeng sabihing para sa mahihirap ito dahil wala silang pera para sa advertisements.” (So no one can say this is for the poor because they don’t have money for advertisements.)

Guia, for his part, said the SC’s SQA order could make a negative impact.

“Medyo hindi maganda na ngayon lang inilabas dahil may momentum ang isang implementing agency. Hindi ko sinasabi na illegal, pero ang implication and projection is not positive,” Guia explained. (It’s not good that they released the order only now, because the implementing agency already gained momentum. I’m not saying it’s illegal, but the implication and projection is not positive.”

Comelec chair Sixto Brillantes on Tuesday threatened to resign after the SC released its SQA order. On Wednesday, April 17, he criticized the high court for delays in processing election-related cases. – Paterno Esmaquel II/Rappler.com