Comelec to keep ‘Team Patay’ issue alive with motion for reconsideration

The Commission on Elections will keep the issue of the "Team Buhay/Team Patay" tarpaulins alive, its chairman said after the Supreme Court sided with the Diocese of Bacolod City on oversized campaign materials that have been hanging in front of the San Sebastian Cathedral since before the 2013 elections.

 

“Malaki ang desisyon na ‘yan. Ang voting is 9-5. Sigurado mag-file kami ng MR. Maraming clarification ‘yan kasi that involves propaganda materials. Use of propaganda materials — ‘yung sizes ng ano. Whether the Church can put it in private property,” Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. said.

 

The Supreme Court earlier this week said the Comelec order to take down the tarpaulins was unconstitutional since the poll body cannot regulate the free expression of private citizens "who are neither candidates nor members of political parties."

 

The court also said the tarpaulins were on private property and the order violated the diocese's right to property.

 

"Ang sinasabi nila, kapag nilagay mo sa private property, puwede. Puwede naman talaga pero limited ba ang size o hindi? Puwede ka ba maglagay ng malaking billboard sa taas ng iyong bubong. E di mapupuno na ng billboard lahat bubong sa buong Pilipinas in the guise of freedom of expression."

 

The tarpaulins list which senatorial candidates in the 2013 elections were for or against the controversial Reproductive Health Law and still hang in front of the cathedral. 

 

"It’s good for catechesis," Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra said in an article posted on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) news website.

 

"My conscience is clear that what we did is only to conscienticize our faithful in Bacolod and the well-intentioned voters regarding their moral civic consciousness regarding the decision to select candidates to uphold the rights of the unborn, against abortion and contraceptives," he said of the tarpaulins. — JDS, GMA News