Comelec issues show cause orders to 1,955 BSKE candidates for premature campaigning

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has issued show cause orders to some 1,955 candidates of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) due to premature campaigning, an official of the agency said Sunday.

According to Comelec spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco, the latest tally took into account figures until last Friday, September 22, nearly a month ahead of the official campaign period of October 19, 2023 to October 28, 2023.

“HIndi po kinakailangang matagal dahil barangay lamang po nila ang kakampanyahin nila, so hanggang ngayon bawal pang mangampanya,” he said in an interview on GMA Super Radyo DZBB on Sunday evening.

(They do not need a long campaign period as they will only do this in their barangays, so campaign activities are not yet allowed.)

Out of the 1,955 show cause orders, Laudiangco said some 300 have already responded, with most of the defense arguments saying they were not involved in the premature campaigns.

There were also a number of candidates who said the campaign materials were already posted before they filed for candidacy, but Laudiangco said these should have been taken down upon filing.

“Inaasahan pa po namin na madadagdagan pa po habang lumalapit pa po sa halalan,” he said, with the polls scheduled on October 30, 2023.

(We are expecting this to increase as the election day comes closer).

There have also been cases of premature campaigning online, as recorded in streaming sites such as Facebook, Tiktok, and Youtube.

Laudiangco said all of the manual ballots have already been printed and are set to be deployed by the first week of October, starting with far-flung areas such as the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and Caraga.

There are also three barangays set to have automated elections: Barangays Paliparan Tres and Poblacion Zone 2 in Dasmariñas City, and Barangay Pasong Tamo in Quezon City. — Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas/BM, GMA Integrated News