ILLEGAL POSTERS. Comelec personnel and its deputies remove some 700 oversized campaign materials of candidates in the Barangay and SK Elections in Koronadal City on Monday (Oct. 23, 2023). The City Comelec office has vowed to remove all posters displayed outside common poster areas in compliance with election laws. (Photo courtesy of Comelec-Koronadal)
KORONADAL CITY – Personnel of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and partner agencies here took down Monday some 700 campaign posters that violated election laws.
The City Comelec office started “Operation Baklas (remove)” four days after the campaign period for Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) began on Oct. 19.
“Most of those taken down were campaign posters that violate the 2 inches by 3 inches size limits as provided for in the Comelec rules on sizes of propaganda materials,” city election officer Maleiha Usman-Loong said.
Also removed were campaign materials that were legal and within the size limits but were posted outside common poster areas or on private properties without the owners’ consent, she added.
The city’s police personnel, the Department of Public Works and Highways, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources helped in removing the illegal campaign posters.
As the Comelec imposes strict policies on the display of propaganda materials, Loong appealed anew to all candidates to abide by the Comelec rules.
“What you do reflects the kind of leaders you will become, simply follow simple rules,” she said.
Loong vowed to continue removing propaganda materials illegally posted outside common poster areas and those that violate size limits until Oct 28, the last day of the campaign period.
Poll-related violence
Meanwhile, police authorities in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) have recorded 11 election-related violence across the region since the campaign period started on Oct. 19.
Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza, BARMM police regional director, said Monday the incidents in Maguindanao del Sur, Lanao del Sur, and Tawi-Tawi were “isolated” and will not affect the entire process of elections.
Nobleza said he remains optimistic that the BSKE in the provinces of Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and the cities of Cotabato, Marawi, and Lamitan and the 63 villages in North Cotabato’s Special Geographic Area (SGA) will be peaceful and orderly.
Earlier, about 150 police officers from the Davao Regional Police Office arrived at Camp Gen. SK Pendatun in Parang town, Maguindanao del Norte., to help maintain peace in the polls in the region.
More personnel from Police Regional Office-10 (Northern Mindanao) and the Philippine National Police Special Action Force from Visayas will also arrive on Tuesday to augment security forces in Lanao del Sur and Marawi City. (PNA)
