Solon urges Comelec to prohibit performers, intermissions during campaign

Iloilo Representative Lorenz Defensor on Thursday urged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to prohibit intermissions and the appearance of entertainment personalities on campaign rallies amid the coronavirus pandemic.

During the Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms hearing, Comelec presented its draft manual on the new normal, which proposes that only 10% of the venue capacity shall be allowed during a campaign rally.

“Baka pwede din ma-consider— karamihan po ng mga rally ng mga kandidato, meron at merong minsan pinakanta, pinapasayaw, minsan may nagdadala pa po ng artista,” Defensor said.

[Perhaps you could also consider—a lot of candidates' rallies have someone singing, dancing, sometimes they bring performers.]

“Baka puwedeng malagay natin sa guidelines na the intermission numbers… ‘yung pasayaw ng mga kandidato, pakanta, personalities na hindi naman po kailangan sa kanilang platform, baka pwede i-avoid na lang natin ‘yun to avoid a surge of the crowd,” he added.

[Maybe we can add to the guidelines that singing , dancing, personalities who are not necessary to the platform can be excluded to avoid the surge of the crowd.]

For his part, Commissioner Antonio Kho Jr. said the Comelec will look into the suggestions.

“We would consider them, no, especially [the] suggestion to avoid getting...singers or those who belong to [the] entertainment industry, [if we can avoid those], we’ll avoid them. We’ll try to include them in our manual,” Kho said.

Defensor also urged Comelec to specify the maximum number of individuals allowed within the venue.

“We can have a provision that it shall be a maximum of 10% of the venue but shall in no case exceed maybe 50 or 100 for cities or highly urbanized areas, may venues po sila na thousand ang ma-accommodate… napakalaki ng 10% [there are venues that can accommodate thousands, so 10% would still be many],” he said.

“And, in my experience, may mga rally po na napakahaba mag salita ni mayor or napakahaba mag diskurso ni governor [there are rallies where the mayor or governor talks for a long time], so maybe a limit on the speaking time of candidates would also reduce the gathering time and also reduce the possibility of COVID,” Defensor added.

Under the draft manual, Comelec said any candidate may hold peaceful political meetings, rallies, or other similar activities provided that they adhere to the following guidelines:

• An in-person campaign rally may be organized for a maximum of three candidates. Each candidate shall have a campaign organizing staff not exceeding ten persons.
• The maximum number of in-person attendees, including members of the media, shall be less than or equal to 10% of venue capacity.
• The campaign organizing staff shall ensure that only persons aged from 18 to 64 years old shall be allowed to personally attend any in-person campaign event.
• The campaign organizing staff shall be required to submit to the Comelec, a statement of compliance with health protocols.
• If provided, individual seating should be fixed at a distance of at least one meter from each other, or two seat-widths apart, in all directions.
• Before entry into the venue, all persons in attendance shall be required to accomplish and submit contact tracing forms, whether online or otherwise, copies of which shall be submitted to the Comelec office with jurisdiction over the venue.
• All persons in attendance shall be required to wear face masks and face shields at all times, even when speaking.
• No refreshments shall be served.
• The organizers shall deploy designated COVID marshals who shall continuously remind participants to comply with these guidelines.

— BM, GMA News