The head of the Legal Department of the Commission on Elections late yesterday asked Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra to have the oversized “Team Patay/Team Buhay” tarpaulin in front of the San Sebastian Cathedral removed, otherwise, the COMELEC will be constrained to file an election offense case against him.

“We pray that the Catholic Church will be the first institution to help the Commission on Elections in ensuring the conduct of peaceful, orderly, honest and credible elections,” COMELEC Legal Department Director IV, Esmeralda Amora-Ladra, wrote.

The bishop, through his lawyer, Mitchelle Abella, had asked on Monday for a definitive ruling by the COMELEC Legal Department on the tarpaulin that lists the names of senatorial candidates and partylist groups to support and not to support for their stance on the Reproductive Health Law.

The Diocese insist that the tarpaulin in question is not an electoral campaign material but an expression off its opposition to the RH Law covered by the broader constitutional guarantee of freedom of expression and conscience.

Abella said the bishop will meet with his legal team today to decide what action to take following the issuance of its opinion by the Legal Department.

In her letter sent by fax machine for the bishop, Amora-Ladra said it has reached the attention of the COMELEC Legal Department that Bacolod Election Officer Mavil Majarucon-Sia had already given him notice on February 22 that the tarpaulin in front of the Cathedral promoting and opposing candidates and partylist groups was oversized.

The 6 by 10 feet tarpaulin is found to be in violation of COMELEC Resolution 9615 that states that the size of election propaganda material should only be 2 by 3 feet, Amora-Ladra said.

On Monday, the Diocese cut the 6 by 10-foot tarpaulin in half but it appears that both sections hanging in front of the Cathedral are still oversized.

Majarucon-Sia said she met with the bishop yesterday and asked him to resize the tarpaulin to avoid violating the COMELEC rule.

The bishop told Majarucon-Sia he would wait for the opinion of the COMELEC Legal Department before the Diocese would act.

The COMELEC is not objecting to the message on the tarpaulin, it is only saying that the Diocese should comply with the required size so that it does not set a precedent for others to violate the rule, Majarucon-Sia said.

Navarra, meanwhile, told the DAILY STAR the Diocese has yet to decide on the action it will take.

He said other churches in Negros Occidental, and dioceses in other parts of the country are also planning to put up similar “Team Patay/Team Buhay” tarpaulins as an expression of their objection to the RH Law, too.

Meanwhile, a text message from an anonymous source circulating called for a boycott to giving tithes at the San Sebastian Cathedral as long as the controversial tarpaulin hangs in front of the church.

It calls on the churchgoers to instead give their money directly to the poor, or buy bread and give it to beggars on the street.

“If our church leaders continue this outrageous display of hypocrisy, then we must act against it,” the text message says.*CPG

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