By Leslie Ann Aquino
With the Barangay and Sangguniang polls now over, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) reminded candidates to take down their campaign materials.
Campaign posters of candidates to the May 14 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections 2018 are plastered all over a sari-sari (variety) store in Barangay 23-C Davao City on the first day of the campaign period on Friday, May 4, 2018. (Keith Bacongco/Manila Bulletin file photo)
“Since they are the ones who put them up, it is also their responsibility to take them down,” Comelec Commissioner Luie Guia said in a press briefing.
However, he admitted that there is no law requiring candidates to bring down their campaign posters.
But Guia said candidates could be held accountable for illegally placed campaign materials.
“We could look at possible violations of local ordinances, especially for those that are illegally placed campaign posters... that is where they could be held accountable,” he said.
Earlier, the Ecowaste Coalition also appealed to candidates to voluntarily remove their campaign materials immediately after the polls on May 14.
“We urge candidates who truly care for their constituents and their shared environment to conduct a post-election clean-up on May 15. Win or lose, please get out of the streets and remove your campaign posters,” Aileen Lucero, National Coordinator of Ecowaste, said.
“Every campaign material used to woo voters – from paper to plastic – has to go somewhere after the election frenzy is over,” she added.
Some of these materials, Lucero said, may be reused, repurposed and recycled, and not end up being buried, burned or wasted.
" We hope candidates will stick to the rules and be mindful of the environmental consequences of their campaigning efforts,” she said.
The EcoWaste Coalition reminded candidates and their supporters not to dump or burn the removed campaign materials as this is against Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, that barangay and SK leaders are supposed to enforce.
More than a million individuals filed their Certificates of Candidacy (COCs) for the village and youth polls.