Comelec to file election charges over Bacolod church's oversized tarp

The Commission on Elections on Saturday said it will start filing election charges over the controversial "Team Buhay/Team Patay" tarpaulin put up by the Diocese of Bacolod, unless it is stopped by the Supreme Court. "We will commence the proceedings next week for the filing of election-offense cases to whoever is behind this, unless restrained by SC," Brillantes said in a post on his Twitter account. "We maintain, however, that the Team Buhay/Patay tarpaulin is an "election propaganda" & thus covered by d size restriction imposed by law," he added. Brillantes' tweets came a day after reports the Bacolod diocese filed a petition with the Supreme Court asking it to declare unconstitutional the Comelec's orders to remove the tarpaulin. However, he said the poll body welcomed the Bacolod diocese's petition but maintained that the agency saw the church's tarpaulin as propaganda that violates size restriction as stated by law. "We are not being unreasonable – we quietly met & pleaded w/ the Diocese for its removal, sent them 2 notices which were both disregarded," Brillantes said in another tweet. "I'm saddened by the defiance of the local diocese as the Catholic Church is a trusted & long-time partner in securing orderly elections," he also said. Brillantes ended his tweets regarding the tarpaulin issue by posting a picture of the tarpaulin, asking if the material was not meant to sway people. "Lastly, I want you to judge. Tell me if this is not oversized? If this is not meant to influence voters?" On Friday, reports indicated that the Diocese of Bacolod and its bishop Vicente Navarra filed a petition with the SC asking it to issue a temporary restraining order and/or a writ of preliminary injunction that will stop the Comelec from persuing its charges. According to the report, the petitioners said the Comelec's orders were unconstitutional and violated their rights to freedom of expression and the principle of the separation of Church and State. The Comelec had given the Bacolod diocese two notices to remove the Team Buhay/Team Patay tarpaulin, which lists the names of senatorial candidates and party-lists groups according to their stand on the Reproductive Health bill which was eventually signed into law. The poll body clarified that freedom of expression was not the point of contention in the issue but the measurements of propaganda materials as prescribed by the law. — LBG, GMA News