Alito Malinao of the Manila Times wrote a very interestig article..."While you are watching the early evening TV newscast, Manny Villar suddenly appears on the screen. He is visiting a dilapidated house with a leaking roof in Moriones, Tondo. He tells you that he and his eight siblings grew up in that house. Then an elderly lady thanks Villar for making her dream of owning a house a reality.
A few minutes later on the same newscast, Mar Roxas is seen pedaling a pedicab. In his “padyak-padyak” commercial, he tells the young boy, the regular pedicab driver, not to lose hope. His parting words are “Hindi ko kayo pababayaan,” a spin from the funereal song, “Hindi kita malilimutan,” a bad omen for Roxas’ presidential ambition.
Then, the face of Mayor Jejomar Binay of
Another TV newscast is interrupted by Vice President Noli de Castro who urges everyone to take advantage of the government’s low-interest housing loans and the restructuring program of Pag-IBIG for delinquent borrowers.
Other latecomers but with the same vacuous TV campaign ads are Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro telling everybody to prepare for calamities and disasters, Sen. Loren Legarda with her “pagkain, hindi Cha-cha; trabaho, hindi Cha-cha . . . aalagaan ko kayo” commercial, and MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando who styles himself as the Lee Kuan Yew of the Philippines (translation: likoanniyo or U-turn slots with concrete barriers that have caused the death of several motorists).
These commercials, which are repeated over and over again on radio, are irritating, disgusting, suffocating and nauseating. Because they are so crudely done without any cerebral message, they not only pollute the airwaves but also insult our intelligence.
Why do we have to suffer these inanities? Can the authorities not do something to stop this cruel insensitivity to public opinion displayed by our publicity-hungry politicians?
Stupid provision
Unfortunately for us, the authorities cannot do anything because of the stupid provision of the Omnibus Election Code.
Even if everybody knows that they are already campaigning and some of them have even announced their intention to run for president, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has said that they are not legally considered candidates because they have not yet filed their certificates of candidacy.
Section 79 of the Omnibus Election Code states that an individual may be considered a candidate only if he or she has filed a certificate of candidacy before the Comelec. The filing of the certificate of candidacy for president is still on November this year.
This issue was settled last year when the Comelec junked the petition of Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago to declare the appearance of politicians in commercial advertisements as an election offense.
The Comelec said it has no power to restrict politicians from appearing in advertisements to endorse products or promote an advocacy because this is not prohibited under the Omnibus Election Code.
“The commission recognizes that there is a need to quell the less than noble practices complained of by the petitioner [
Top spenders, big losers
If the media handlers of the presidential bets think that the more their candidates are exposed in the media, the better their chances of winning in next year’s polls, they should think again.
In the 2007 elections, Prospero Pichay and Villar were the biggest spenders in political ads. Pichay spent P151.72 million followed by Villar with P138.28 million. Both have exceeded the allowable limit of P135 million, computed at P3 per voter of the estimated 45 million votes.
What happened to them?
Pichay was thrashed in the polls and Villar, despite his massive campaign ads, landed only fourth, overtaken by Legarda, who placed first, Chiz Escudero and even by Sen. Panfilo Lacson.
The other big spenders in political ads who also lost in the 2007 senatorial derby were Michael Defensor, Tito Sotto, Tessie Aquino-Oreta and Ralph Recto. On the other hand, Antonio Trillanes 4th, who did not have any campaign ad and was unable to campaign because he was and is still detained, was number 11.
What to do?
These political ads will become more frequent and more annoying when election campaign starts. But unless the election law is amended, we are helpless.
Henrietta de Villa, chairman of the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) and the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting, said that the best way to show our outrage over the premature campaigning and circumvention of the law by these candidates is not to vote for them in the 2010 elections.
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