Mar 032013
 
(Updated 2:06 p.m.) The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday said it will be issuing subpoenas to two party-list groups that allegedly have failed to remove their illegally placed campaign posters.

“Papadalhan natin sila ng subpoena, may complaint na ifa-file,” lawyer Esmeralda Amora-Ladra, head of the Comelec law department, told reporters. “We’re preparing now for subpoena to be sent.”

Last week, Ladra said they are preparing election offense charges against the two groups — Kabataan and Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (PISTON) — for allegeldy failing to remove their illegal campaign posters three days after they received notice from the poll body.

She said the illegal campaign posters were still on the wall of Philippine General Hospital, a public infrastructure, along Taft Avenue in Manila when the law department made the rounds.

The two party-list groups, however, had said they have removed the posters.

But on Monday, Ladra said their monitoring showed the groups did not remove the posters within the three-day period prescribed by the poll body.

“Hindi na namin chineck ulit. What for pag paulit-ulit tayo ‘di na tayo matatapos sa pagche-check dapat nga they should be also held liable dun sa ibang lugar,” she said.

She added that under the law, failure to remove the posters after three days attaches the “presumption that they were really the ones who placed those posters in prohibited places.”

Ladra said the two groups, through the subpoena, will be required to make an appearance and submit their reply to the complaint.

After this, the law department will make a determination whether to recommend the filing of charges to the Comelec en banc, which will decide whether to disqualify the group or file separate charges before the courts.

“Maghahanda kami ng affidavit and then also the affidavit of EID (Education and Information Department),” Ladra said.

The EID is in charge of monitoring the posting of campaign materials nationwide.

Failure to remove illegal campaign propaganda constitutes an election offense that is punishable under Section 264 of the Omnibus Election Code. The provision states that any person found guilty of any election offense shall be punished with imprisonment from one to six years and shall not be subject to probation.

The guilty party shall also be sentenced to “suffer disqualification to hold public office and deprivation of the right of suffrage.” — Kimberly Jane Tan/KBK, GMA News

Feb 212013
 
Bar exam results out before Holy Week — SC

(Supreme Court of the Philippines) MANILA, Feb 19 (Mabuhay) – The much-awaited results of the October 2012 Bar Exams will be released before the Holy Week in March. This was announced by the Supreme Court Public Information Office in a text message to reporters on Tuesday. “As per Justice Martin Villarama, chair of the 2012 Bar exams, barring unforseen circumstances, results will be out before Holy Week,” said the SC PIO. More than 5,000 law school graduates took the Bar exams during the four Saturdays of October at the University of Santo Tomas along España Boulevard in Manila. The number of examinees last October was lower than in 2011, in which 6,200 law school graduates took the exam. It was the second time that the exams was held at UST, where security had been tightened since the grenade attack during the Bar exams in 2010 when it was still held at the De La Salle University along Taft Avenue. (MNS)

Feb 122013
 
Comelec notes continued violations of campaign rules

The Commission on Elections on Wednesday found continued violations of the campaign rules for the May elections as it started a “documentation tour” of compliance with campaign rules. Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez led the team that took pictures of the campaign posters. Among the first seen by the Comelec were campaign materials of Kabataan party-list on the posts of LRT in front of Luneta Park and along Taft Avenue in Manila. Comelec spokesman James Arthur Jimenez posted on Twitter a photo of posters plastered along Taft Avenue, belonging to the youth-oriented party list. In his post, he indicated the photo was taken as of 11 a.m. Wednesday. There was also an oversized tarpaulin of Buhay party-list hanging on an electric post along Quirino Avenue. The poll body prohibits posting of campaign materials on public infrastructures, among others. Comelec earlier said those who will be found to have illegal campaign posters will be given a notice which they should act on within three days or they will be charged with an election offense. The Comelec is now enforcing campaign rules for candidates in the senatorial and party-list elections, after the campaign period for such posts started on Tuesday. “(The candidates concerned), however, will have to be given official notice of this violation, and the opportunity to address (the) problem,” Jimenez earlier said on his Twitter account.  As of posting time, the areas covered by the documentation tour are Intramuros, Finance Road, Taft Avenue and Quirino Avenue in Manila. Earlier in the Read More …