Parties seek to ban Aquino from joining election rallies

By Manila Times/Manila Two labour organisations and a party-list group have asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to prohibit President Benigno Aquino from joining campaign rallies of Team PNoy.  In a three-page letter addressed to Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr, labour groups Pamalakaya and Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) and Anakpawis party-list, said President Aquino has been on a “super road show” with the administration coalition since the start of the campaign period, joining his team’s campaign sorties in the provinces of Cebu, Laguna and Cavite. “How much did the government spend for the campaign sortie of Team PNoy during the proclamation rally last February 12? How much did the office of the president spend for the campaign sortie in Laguna and Cavite last week? Did he get the funds from his own pocket?” the groups asked. They added that it is possible that Aquino is using taxpayers’ money in campaigning for his senatorial candidates. “We believe that the poll body should exercise extra vigilance and exert legal, political and moral efforts to remind and restrain Aquino from using the office of the president and taxpayers’ resources to campaign for and advance the candidacy of allies and party mates of Aquino running in the May 2013 elections,” the groups said. “The Comelec should admonish, warn, and insist that President Aquino cease and desist from leading the electoral campaign of his allies and party mates and compel the Aquino presidency to uphold political ‘delicadeza’ (considerations) and promote honest, orderly and peaceful elections,” they added. Under the election code, an official who campaigned using public money can be jailed for six years. The groups asserted that it is morally questionable for the president to be too preoccupied with campaigning for Team PNoy at the expense of the whole country. “Public interest bars the chief executive from engaging in partisan politics such as open endorsement of favoured candidates and putting priority to the electoral sorties of administration-backed candidates instead of exhaustively running the day-to-day affairs of the state,” they told the poll chief. In a meeting with Brillantes, the groups expressed dismay over the chief executive’s alleged misuse of government’s funds. “It is clear the president is using public money, for example in buying food and gasoline for his teammates. This is unfair to the candidates of other parties who use their own money,” the groups stressed. The poll chief pledged to address the groups’ complaint “in due time.” He also urged the organisations to produce evidence that Aquino is using government resources for the rallies. Former Comelec commissioner Rene Sarmiento earlier said that the ban on government employees with regards to campaigning is not absolute since it exempts officials occupying what can be considered as political posts such as the president, vice president and Cabinet members.