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SC: Infomercials before campaign period legal


Reversing an earlier decision, the Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled in favor of the airing of “infomercials" and “advocacy ads" by government officials planning to run in an upcoming election before the start of the campaign period. In a 16-page resolution penned by Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, the court reversed its decision dated September 11, 2009 that criminalizes any political activities done before the start of the campaign period. In the Sept. 11 decision, the justices voted 8-7 to disqualify Santa Monica, Surigao del Norte mayor Rosalinda Penera when she held a motorcade after filing her candidacy on Nov. 30, 2006 for the May 2007 elections.


SC spokesperson Jose Midas Marquez said the justices, voting 9-5, ruled that the airing of "infomercials" before the start of the campaign season – viewed by many as premature campaigning – is considered as "an exercise of the candidates’ freedom of expression." “The essence of the decision is that any candidate will only be considered a candidate at the start of the campaign period. Any unlawful acts or omissions shall take effect only during the start of the campaign period," Marquez said in a phone interview with GMANews.TV. “Therefore, there is no unlawful act or omission before the campaign period. In effect, there is no such thing as premature campaigning," he added. For the 2010 elections, the official campaign period runs from Feb. 9 to May 8 for candidates running for national positions, and March 26 to May 8 for those running for local positions. Marquez said the changes in the voting could be attributed to the retirement of Associate Justices Leonardo Quisumbing and Consuelo Ynares-Santiago, the appointment to the high court of CA Justice Martin Villarama, and the concurrence of Justice Lucas Bersamin with the majority. Quisumbing were among those who dissented with the September 11 majority decision penned by Associate Justice Minita Chico-Nazario. When Villarama replaced Santiago, who voted against premature campaigning, he concurred with the Carpio ponencia, bringing the majority of magistrates in favor of early campaigning to 9. Wednesday's ruling virtually voided Section 80 of the Omnibus Election Code, which prohibits "any person, whether or not a voter or candidate, or for any party, or association of persons, to engage in an election campaign or partisan political activity except during the campaign period." Under the Omnibus Election Code, a motorcade is considered a partisan political activity. But in Wednesday’s ruling, Marquez said the concept of “premature campaigning" no longer exists because aspirants are only considered official candidates at the start of the campaign season, and not after they file their certificate of candidacy. The new SC ruling thus gave more weight to the Election Modernization Act (R.A. 9369) Sec 13 which says, "Any person who files his certificate of candidacy within this period shall only be considered as a candidate at the start of the campaign period for which he filed his certificate of candidacy." Commission on Elections (Comelec) officials, meanwhile, refused to comment on the reversal of the earlier SC ruling as they have yet to receive a copy of the decision. The Comelec has been waiting for the SC decision on the Penera case, saying this will determine its stand on premature campaigning. [See: Comelec warns politicians vs premature campaigning]- with Kim Tan/KBK, JV, GMANews.TV
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