Candidates for the 2010 elections can no longer be charged with premature campaigning after they file their Certificates of Candidacy, with the Supreme Court reversal of its ruling versus Mayor Rosalinda Penera, Negros Occidental Provincial Elections Supervisor Jessie Suares said yesterday.

That means candidates will no longer have to wait for the start of the campaign period to be able to place media advertisements, or meet with voters to explain their advocacies, Suares said.

The campaign period for position of president, vice president, senators and PartyLists groups will run from Feb. 9 until May 8, 2010, while for local positions, it starts March 26 and will end on May 8, 2010.

The Supreme Court, by a 9-5 vote, yesterday reinstated Penera as mayor of Sta. Monica, Surigao del Norte, as it granted her motion for reconsideration and set aside its Sept. 11, 2009 decision, which earlier had affirmed her disqualification by the Commission on Elections for premature campaigning.

Penera's disqualification stemmed from her alleged premature campaigning when she and her supporters had a motorcade on March 29, 2007, a day before the start of the authorized campaign period for the May 2007 local and national elections.

The SC held that the assailed decision reverses its ruling in Lanot v. Comelec, wherein the Court held that a person who files a certificate of candidacy is not a candidate until the start of the campaign period. It noted that Congress had elevated the Lanot doctrine into law under Republic Act 8436.

Under the September 11, 2009 decision, a candidate may already be liable for premature campaigning after the filing of the certificate of candidacy but even before the start of the campaign period. The same considers a person who files a certificate of candidacy already a “candidate” even before the start of the campaign period.

The Court ruled that under the law, “candidate” has been defined as “any person aspiring for or seeking an elective public office, who has filed a certificate of candidacy” and that “any person who files certificate of candidacy within (the period for filing) shall only be considered as a candidate at the start of the campaign period for which he filed his certificate of candidacy.”

“In layman's language, this means that a candidate is liable for an election offense only for acts done during the campaign period, not before. The law is clear as daylight – any election offense that may be committed by a candidate under any election law cannot be committed before the start of the campaign period. In ruling that Penera is liable for premature campaigning for partisan political acts before the start of the campaigning, the assailed decision ignores the clear and express provision of the law,” SC said.

The SC further said that what the law says is “any unlawful act or omission applicable to a candidate shall take effect only upon the start of the campaign period. The plain meaning of this provision is that the effective date when partisan political acts become unlawful as to a candidate is when the campaign period starts. Before the start of the campaign period, the same partisan political acts are lawful.”

The SC stressed that the law does not state that partisan political acts done by a candidate before the campaign period are unlawful, but may be prosecuted only upon the start of the campaign period.

“Congress has laid down the law – a candidate is liable for election offenses only upon the start of the campaign period. This Court has no power to ignore the clear and express mandate of the law,” the SC also said.*CPG

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