The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said it would donate for recycling all illegal campaign materials removed during its “Oplas Baklas” operations.
The poll body began removing illegal campaign materials on Friday, March 28, the start of the 45-day campaign period for local positions in the May 12 midterm elections.
“Everything that we removed today, we will donate it to the Ecowaste Coalition and the BJMP [Bureau of Jail Management and Penology] because they have plans for our imprisoned brothers. They have plans on these materials, which can be recycled or used,” Comelec Chairperson George Erwin Garcia said in an interview at the kick-off of the operations in Tondo, Manila.
He added that they are looking to remove tons of illegally posted campaign materials in these operations.
“This is just one corner, Pritil Market, where we removed one truckload of illegal campaign materials. How much more around the country? We will really get tons and tons of these illegally placed posters,” he said.
Garcia, meanwhile, said they would no longer hold removal operations after Friday, as they want the candidates and their supporters to voluntarily remove their illegal campaign posters and tarpaulins.
“We will write to them, we will order them to remove [the illegal campaign materials] and after three days [upon receipt of the order], and they have not removed it. We will issue them show-cause orders,” he added.
Local candidates are allowed to use printed materials the size of which should not exceed eight and a half inches wide and 14 inches long; handwritten or printed letters urging voters to vote for or against any particular party or candidate for public office; posters or standees not exceeding two feet by three feet; and streamers not exceeding three feet by eight feet in size, displayed at the site, and only on the occasion of a public meeting or rally.
They are not allowed to post campaign materials in waiting sheds, sidewalks, street, and lamp posts, electric posts and wires, traffic signages and other signboards erected on public property, pedestrian overpasses and underpasses, flyovers and underpasses, bridges, main thoroughfares, center islands of roads and highways, schools, public shrines, barangay halls, government offices, health centers, public structures, and buildings or any edifice; and within the premises of public transport terminals, owned and controlled by the government, such as bus terminals, airports, seaports, docks, piers, and train stations.
Meanwhile, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairperson Romando Artes said he has ordered personnel from Metro Parkways Clearing Group (MPCG) to work together with Comelec in dismantling campaign materials that violate size and placement regulations.
“We deployed more than 500 MMDA personnel to the 17 local government units of Metro Manila to take down those illegal campaign materials,” he said in the same press briefing.
To date, Artes said the MPCG has removed tarpaulins, posters, and other election materials hanging from tall poles, trees, electric posts, bridges, pedestrian bridges, electric wires, and other non-designated areas.
The campaign period for local positions will run until May 10, wherein 41,342 candidates are running for district representatives, governor, vice governor, provincial board members, mayor, vice mayor, and councilors. (PNA)