Support. Suara’s Abubakar Uy (right) laments the destruction of their campaign posters, allegedly by the military. Fortunately for Suara, Lumad groups, among others, have expressed support. (davaotoday.com photo by Barry Ohaylan)
Its not enough that progressive partylist organizations — those that bear the brunt of the states policy of linking them to the communist movement are being harassed, intimidated and murdered. They, too, are being denied space for their campaign materials.
By Jeffrey Tupaz
davaotoday.com
DAVAO CITY Its not enough that progressive partylist organizations — those that bear the brunt of the states policy of linking them to the communist movement are being harassed, intimidated and murdered. They, too, are being denied space for their campaign materials.
As election draws near and the spate of killings of activists remains unsolved, these partylist groups now have to contend with the reality that even the Commission on Electionss rule on political posters is working against them.
The common poster areas of the Comelec are disadvantageous to these partylist groups, said Abubakar Abalos Uy, the secretary-general for Southern Mindanao of the Moro partylist group Suara. This Comelec ruling, he said, confines their campaign propaganda in obscure places, where the public cannot easily see them.
The Comelec ruling, he said, could be disastrous to partylist groups or candidates who do not have the money to pay for expensive advertisements on television, radio and newspapers — the advertising mediums that are thoroughly dominated by traditional politicians.
Thus, Uy said, the Comelec guideline only serves the administration bets or rich candidates and limit the partylist groups’s chance of winning.
“The Comelec guideline is unfair to progressive groups that cannot afford expensive campaign ads,” Uy said. “We are banking on posters for our campaign materials but this is being denied to us because common posters areas are confined in obscure places, where most often they’re being torn and defaced.”
The Comelec, however, denied this. Melcar Unso, Comelec regional information officer for Southern Mindanao, called as unfair the accusations that the policy on posters is marginalizing the partylist groups and candidates who are not affiliated with the big and moneyed political parties.
The guideline targets all candidates and do not favor anyone, said Unso. “All candidates and parties are affected by our policies. We do not particularly target an individual or any party with the objective of marginalizing them. The allegation is just unfair,” Unso said in a telephone interview.
2007 Elections
