2 weeks ago
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ILOILO CITY — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has clarified that there was no tampering involved in the alleged covering of Makabayan coalition posters by Team Uswag, the local party of Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas.
Comelec-Iloilo City Assistant Officer 2 Jonathan Sayno said the area at La Paz Plaza, where the incident occurred, is a designated common poster area assigned to Team Uswag.
"We cannot call it tampering based on the allegations of the Makabayan bloc," he told The Manila Times on Wednesday.
"It was found out that Team Uswag owns the designated area where the posters for the party-list under the Makabayan bloc are placed," he added.
Sayno explained that common poster areas were assigned to political groups prior to the campaign period through a draw of lots, in line with Section 9 of the Fair Election Act.
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The clarification comes after Makabayan Panay — comprising Bayan Muna, Gabriela, and ACT Teachers — filed a formal complaint, alleging that three of their posters had been deliberately covered by Team Uswag's materials.
They cited Section 25 of Comelec Resolution 11086, which prohibits tampering or defacing lawful campaign propaganda.
In response, Comelec facilitated a dialogue between the parties on April 8, followed by an ocular inspection that confirmed the contested site falls under Team Uswag's assigned area.
The issue has since been resolved, with the Makabayan posters relocated to their designated space.
Sayno acknowledged the concerns raised by Makabayan and stressed that a more courteous approach would have been for Team Uswag to inform the group before posting over the materials.
"Team Uswag apologized for what happened since the posting of the material carried out by their barangay leaders," he added.
He urged all candidates to coordinate with Comelec before putting up campaign materials to avoid similar incidents, which he attributed to "a simple case of miscommunication."
"We call on all the candidates to ensure proper and seamless placement of their posters by coordinating with Comelec, so we can give guidance on where they can post," he said.
