Lawmaker to charge CO for barring entry to Camp Aguinaldo

Former national security adviser and Parañaque City Rep. Roilo Golez on Thursday threatened to file charges against a military commander for supposedly violating election laws. Golez said he was supposed to enter Camp Aguinaldo Thursday morning to attend a memorial mass for his late mother when he was barred from entering Gate 4 because his vehicle had political posters endorsing his re-election bid and Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III's presidential bid. Golez said the Gate 4 guard cited a regulation supposedly issued by camp commander Brig. Gen. Felipe Tabas prohibiting the entry of vehicles bearing political stickers or posters. "I am filing a complaint with the Comelec as such medieval action by the camp commander violates a citizen's and taxpayer's right to express his political preference," he said. Golez quoted from the case Adiong versus Comelec, which says: "The posting of decals and stickers in mobile places like cars and moving vehicles does not endanger any substantial government interest. There is no clear public interest threatened by such activity so as to justify the curtailment of the cherished citizens' right of free speech and expression." He said Tabas's supposed regulation "strikes at the freedom of an individual to express his preference." "My vehicle was alone with no escorts and could not be construed as a campaign sortie," said Golez, a retired Navy captain. He is the brother of Vice Admiral Ferdinand Golez of the Philippine Navy. In response, Armed Forces public affairs office chief Lt. Col. Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos reiterated that the military has a policy against campaigning, which includes the entry of campaign materials inside military camps and other installations. “We welcome that if he wants to file (a case). The stand of the AFP is that we will answer on behalf of those he is going to charge. We will answer that in the proper forum," Burgos said over the phone. The ban on campaigning and on the entry of campaign materials inside camps and installations are meant to ensure that military personnel will not be engaged in partisan political activity, said Burgos. Burgos said the military has been implementing the policy for years, and said politicians who want to enter military camps should either remove or cover the political stickers in their vehicles. “We never allow campaigning inside (camps), campaign activities as well as campaign materials, including those placed in vehicles," added the military spokesman.—Johanna Camille Sisante/JV, GMANews.TV