Poll candidates can face raps, disqualification for illegally-posted campaign materials—Comelec chief

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia warned erring poll candidates on Tuesday, Feb. 11, that they can face election offense charges and even disqualification for illegally posted campaign materials.

Garcia said this as he led the dismantling of campaign materials posted outside of designated areas during the nationwide kickoff of “Oplan Baklas” on the first day of the campaign period for senators and party-list groups for the May 2025 elections.

“Ito’y napakalaking simbolismo at ito’y para sa buong bansa. Ginagawa at gagawin ng mga local Comelec natin upang ipakita sa mga kandidato, sa mga political party, sa mga susunod na araw, pagka nagkabit sila sa mga lugar na hindi sila dapat nagkakabit, tatanggalin at tatanggalin namin (This is a symbolic gesture for the entire country. Our local Comelec is working and will continue to work to show candidates and political parties that if they post in places where they shouldn’t in the coming days, we will remove them),” he said.

Since it’s the first day of the campaign, Garcia said that they have not yet sent any letters to the candidates regarding violations. However, in the coming days, the poll chief reminded that their local Comelec offices will issue notices to the candidates, and they will be responsible for removing the campaign materials themselves within three days.

“Pag di nila tinanggal within three days, fi-filean namin sila ng kasong election offense sa law department at karampatang disqualification (If they fail to remove them within three days, we will file an election offense case against them with the law department, leading to the appropriate disqualification),” Garcia said.

“Pupwede po naming i-presume na kung sino yung nandun sa mismong, yung larawan ng kandidato na nandun sa poster siya po ang nagkabit o nagpakabit ng campaign materials na yan (We can assume that the person whose image is on the poster is the one who put up or had those campaign materials put up),” he added.

For Garcia, Comelec should do it that way because some candidates always claim that they didn’t put up the materials and that it was their opponents or just their supporters who did it.

While they do not impose any fines on this, Garcia said that there’s a possibility of disqualification because wrongfully posting these campaign materials is a violation of Comelec’s rules and every violation of Comelec’s rules is not only an election offense but also a ground for disqualification.

According also to the poll chief, a lot were charged for violating Comelec’s rules during the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) held in 2023.

While critics of the poll body claim that these are only small fish, for Garcia, there are no small or big fish when it comes to campaigning, especially when it’s the Comelec enforcing the rules. Right now, he said that the Comelec is very determined to implement its laws because that’s what the public expects.

“Ang tagal na po nilang nagngingitngit, madaming nakikita, kami ang nasisisi simula pa nung Oktubre. Kaya lang katulad ng sinasabi namin, wala naman kaming magawa sapagkat noong Oktubre hindi pa sila kandidato (They have been seething for a long time, seeing many things, and we’ve been blamed since October. However, as we’ve been saying, there was nothing we could do because they weren’t candidates back in October),” he said.

“Ngayong nagsimula na ito (campaign) kinakailangang ipakita namin ang amin pong pagpupursige na maipatupad ang ating patakaran. Kung sa simpleng posters di sumusunod ang mga kandidato, how much more yung malalaking requirements ng Komisyon pag ganito tayong magha-halalan? (Now that it has started, we need to demonstrate our determination to implement our policy. If candidates don’t even follow simple poster rules, how much more difficult will it be to comply with the larger requirements of the Commission in the election?)” he added.

On the other hand, he said that they will refrain from removing campaign materials in private properties since these are protected by the owner’s rights.

Meanwhile, Garcia stated that the confiscated materials will not be burned, nor will they simply be fully disposed of or thrown away, because they need to properly account for those confiscated items for potential use in filing a case against the candidates later on. At the same time, he added that they cannot burn them because it would harm the environment. The most they can do is include them when they melt their ballots.

For common poster areas, Garcia said that their local Comelec offices have these set up in public places, especially in plazas and places where people gather. He said that these are common poster areas designated by Comelec and only the poll body can designate common poster areas. Each local Comelec office releases a list of where their common poster areas are located.