Comelec sets massive ‘Operation Baklas’ in Central Visayas
This concrete wall along M.J. Cuenco Ave. in Barangay Tejero, Cebu City is covered with campaign posters and catches the attention of a passerby. In a few days, though, these posters will be gone. They will be removed under Comelec’s “Operation Baklas” program. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
The Commission on Elections in Central Visayas (Comelec 7) is set to simultaneously remove illegally posted campaign materials throughout the region from April 12 to 14.
Lawyer Eliseo Labaria, Comelec Cebu acting provincial election supervisor, said the activity would be a unified implementation of “Oplan Baklas,” the poll body’s initiative to ensure that campaign materials are only put up in designated areas.
“We will be taking down unlawful materials, especially those placed outside common poster areas and on trees,” he told Cebu Daily News in a phone interview.
While the simultaneous activity has been slated on those dates, Labaria said local Comelec offices are also free to take down illegally posted materials even after next week.
Labaria said they would start at around 7 p.m., when traffic would be moderate and it would no longer be very hot outside.
“We will do that from 7 p.m. onwards or until we get tired. We will rest for a while and then come back at it again,” said Labaria.
He said they would focus on major thoroughfares, but they would also identify other areas with many illegally posted campaign materials as they go along.
The three-day activity will be done in coordination with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), which will provide boom trucks and ladders, as well as with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), which is in charge of taking down materials on trees.
Labaria said the illegally posted campaign materials would be kept by the Comelec as evidence should there be any complaint against candidates for violating election rules.
He said police officers would accompany them during the activity.
According to Labaria, candidates should have removed their illegally placed campaign materials before the start of the local campaign period last March 25.
Prior to that date, the Comelec did not implement its rules and regulations on election materials.
“If they have materials placed outside common poster areas, I advise them to remove these immediately or else these could be used against them,” he said.
Prohibited forms of election campaign materials include, but are not limited to, newspaper, newsletter, pamphlet, leaflet, bumper sticker, poster, comic book, streamer, sample list of candidates, or any published or printed political matter.
It is also illegal to post, display, or exhibit any election campaign material outside authorized common poster areas, in public places, or in private property without consent of the owner.
Designated common poster areas include barangay centers, markets, plazas and the like where posters may be readily seen or read, with the heaviest pedestrian and/or vehicular traffic in the city or municipality.
Public places include electronic announcement boards along highways and streets, government vehicles, waiting sheds, sidewalks, flyovers and underpasses, bridges, main thoroughfares, center islands, schools, barangay halls, and other public structures and buildings, public vehicles owned by the government, and public transport terminals, among others.
Violations are considered an election offense, carrying with it the penalty of one to six years imprisonment, removal of right to vote, and disqualification from holding public office for those who will be held liable.
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