Comelec, NPD, DPWH intensify drive vs illegal campaign posters

 

By: Arlie O. Calalo
Link: http://www.tribune.net.ph/

Operatives of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), Northern Police District (NPD) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) have stepped up the drive against illegal propaganda materials by removing oversized posters and those that were posted in places other than the designated common poster areas.

Dismantled were those attached to trees in parks and electric posts all over the northern part of the metropolis, according to NPD director Chief Supt. Samuel Pagdilao Jr. who led last Monday morning representatives from Comelec and DPWH in implementing the Fair Election Law on illegally posted campaign materials.

Aside from Pagdilao, members of the Camanava (Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, Valenzuela) Joint Security Control Center led by its chairman lawyer Patrick Enaje and Comelec National Capital Region (NCR) director Mike Dioneda removed illegal campaign materials along Samson Road in Caloocan City.

According to Dioneda, the tearing down of illegal posters within Camanava area is the first salvo of the NCR-wide campaign against illegal posters.

“It so happened that NPD started the preparation earlier than the rest that’s why we started it here,” Dioneda said as he lauded the NPD, the election officers of Camanava, the DPWH and the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) for their prompt initiative.

A lawyer, Pagdilao appealed to all candidates in his turf to strictly adhere to the Comelec rules in their placement of propaganda materials as he urged their supporters to likewise follow the rules by refraining from posting campaign materials in unauthorized places.

Also, owners of private establishments will be held liable if they post campaign materials of the candidates they are supporting that have exceeded the allowable sizes, Enaje said.