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MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) expressed confidence it has made all the necessary preparations to ensure a smooth campaign season in the run-up to the May 9, 2022 polls.
“Comelec offices are ready for this day,” Comelec education and information director Lai David told Teleradyo on Tuesday, February 8.
The poll body has been on a media tour to assure the public that it has covered all bases, even as the COVID-19 pandemic casts a long shadow on physical campaigning.
On the eve of the start of the campaign season for national elective posts, the Philippines had a total of 116,720 active COVID-19 cases.
The campaign season for the 2022 polls will be unlike previous elections, as it will see an introduction of in-person campaign guidelines born out of the pandemic.
“We have cascaded the guidelines that field officials need to know because they are the ones that will implement these, and for them to brief the candidates in their jurisdictions,” she also told PTV in a separate interview.
Under the new restrictions, handshakes, hugs, kisses, and taking selfies – common sights during physical campaigns, prior to the pandemic – are banned.
The Comelec is also enforcing a category system, with its campaign committees from the municipal to the national level tasked to determine which level an area belongs to.
The classification will dictate how much in-person campaigning restrictions are imposed on a certain area, such as the size of motorcades, meetings, and rallies.
“Many of our regional offices have received applications for physical campaigning filed by candidates, their supporters, and political parties. Because we’re in the middle of a pandemic, they need to apply for a permit to conduct in-person campaigns,” David said.
Later on Tuesday, David said the Comelec has received 71 campaign permit applications so far.
Campaign permit applications filed for two separate individual events of Vice President Leni Robredo and Manila Mayor Isko Moreno were denied. For Robredo, it’s due to missing documents for a campaign rally in Metro Manila; for Moreno, the application to hold a motorcade in Central Luzon was filed out of time.
Labor leader Leody de Guzman, meanwhile, also failed to secure a campaign permit for his proclamation rally in Quezon City later on Tuesday, David said.
‘Not crippled’
The Comelec is entering a campaign season with three en banc members short, as President Rodrigo Duterte has yet to fill the vacant seats left by recently retired chairman Sheriff Abas and retired commissioners Antonio Kho Jr. and Rowena Guanzon.
Comelec spokesman James Jimenez previously assured the public tha the poll body is not crippled despite these vacancies.
He asserted that preparations for the elections were already set in motion a long time ago, and it’s just now a matter of implementation.
For the 2022 elections, 10 candidates will run for president, 9 for vice president, and 64 for senator.
Some 67 million Filipinos are eligible to cast their ballots in a high-stakes vote that will determine Duterte’s successor. – Rappler.com
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