Echoing the objections raised by the Leni-Kiko campaign on the “Operation Baklas” of the Commission on Election’s (COMELEC), members of the Pinunong Pinay Power or PPP declared their opposition to the poll body’s continued removal of campaign materials put up by citizens on their private properties.
PPP is a broad-based organization of duly-elected local government officials from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
Tabaco City Mayor Krisel Lagman-Luistro called the campaign “an attack on our free speech and property rights.” She added that the brazen violations in carrying out Operation Baklas intimidate citizens into surrendering their rights. She stressed that COMELEC’s powers are limited to leveling off the playing field for candidates and political parties, not private citizens thus should immediately cease these unconstitutional acts.
Naga City Vice Mayor Cecilia De Asis said that the COMELEC was brushing aside the citizens’ rights to express political opinions. At the same time, she called for a united effort to stop the COMELEC’s drive.
Zambales Board Member Carolyn Senador-Fariñas, who is running for mayor in San Felipe, Zambales, explained that Operation Baklas contradicts the COMELEC’s mandate to ensure peaceful and free elections. She added that free discussion of issues and the candidates and their platforms are part of democracy.
Tuguegarao City Councilor Marjorie Martin said: “We recognize the power of COMELEC to regulate elections and to ensure that no one, especially those who have the power, money and influence, takes advantage of our electoral process. But such power does not involve the intrusion on private property and most especially the violation of every Filipino’s freedom.”
Martin said the indiscriminate removal of posters and painting over murals on private property “without due process of the law is clearly illegal and uncalled for.”
“We call on the COMELEC, the Philippine National Police and other members of the Baklas Team to perform their tasks in accordance to law and respect of a Filipinos right to freedom of speech and expression,” she said.
For Virac, Catanduanes Vice-Mayor Arlynn Arcilla, Operation Baklas is a clear violation of the people’s freedoms of expression and privacy. She added that it was clear that the COMELEC’s actions have no basis in law. She assured her constituents that they can rely on her administration to ensure that these violations will not happen in their municipality.
Last week, the Robredo campaign team held a press conference where election lawyer Romulo Macalintal described Operation Baklas as a “very arbitrary act of the COMELEC because said persons were never given the chance to be heard which violated their procedural right to due process, when said campaign materials were removed without any hearing.”
Robredo’s spokesperson, Atty. Barry Gutierrez, also raised the possibility of a case being filed.
“Kung kinakailangan, pinag-aaralan sa kasalukuyan kung posibleng mag-file ng karapat-dapat na kaso para maging mas klaro iyong rule dito sa isyung ito,” Gutierrez said.
After the initial backlash, COMELEC spokesperson James Jimenez had said that the election commissioners are looking into the issue and that the body has modified its rules in the past.
