Full force campaigns

According to the regional Civil Service Commission (CSC), there is no specific election law that prohibits candidates from campaigning at government offices during work hours.

But that doesn’t mean that campaigning during office hours will only disrupt work. It is also a form of loyalty check for the incumbents, to see for themselves if their subalterns toe the party line lest they find themselves without job in the next few months.

For the more conscientious, the campaigning leaves a bad taste in the mouth of their constituents who are only visiting government offices to transact business and not to be distracted by the handshaking of these aspirants to public office.

Last Monday’s announcement of the Team Rama lineup at City Hall’s flag-raising ceremony was one example. There will be questions on whether a flag-raising ceremony can be considered as part of office hours, but who would bother raising the issue in court?

Sure they can get away with it and city government employees can pretend to be entertained by the presentation, but it’s a fact that all incumbents have, one way or another, found a way to campaign among local government employees.

For another, it’s difficult if not outright impossible for rival candidates who don’t have one or two allies in power to campaign before LGU employees. That said, the so-called “equity of the incumbent” advantage will be played out for all it’s worth, including campaigning during flag-raising ceremonies or probably even during scheduled outreach programs.

Which is why it was but expected of City Hall to ask the Comelec to seek exemption for the distribution of cash aid to the seniors, the scholars, persons with disabilities (PWDs) and other disadvantaged sectors during the election period.

Thanks to Rama’s planning, the cash aid has been allocated per quarter, and the distribution period has been useful for Team Rama to remind the recipients about their benevolence.

Surely Team Rama wouldn’t use the occasion to do some campaigning similar to what they did at the flag-raising ceremony and, in an earlier gimmick, during a ceremony intended to raise funds for the Cebu City Medical Center.

While their followers may only be too glad to be entertained, there are others who are either followers of the rival camp or simply indifferent toward any of these political sorties and who simply want to receive their share of the cash aid.

But that’s just the way it is during this election season when candidates can get creative and do just about anything to remind voters to vote for them on May 9.

But like any consumer, we also have the right to ignore and turn them off completely, and they cannot do anything about it. It’s time voters show these candidates that they won’t tolerate campaign gimmicks gladly.