A LECTURE ON ELECTION LAWS AND GUIDELINES
“The effort of the government alone will never be enough. In the end, the people must choose and the people must help themselves.”
These were the eternal words of the former U.S. President John F. Kennedy in his address at a White House Reception for the members of Congress and for the Diplomatic Corps of the Latin American Republics on March 13, 1961.
The Philippines is a democratic-republic country with a presidential form of government, wherein power is equally divided among its three (3) branches: the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary, which also means that the members of the legislative branch and the President and the Vice President of the executive branch are elected by the electorate—the Filipino people in a procedure referred to as voting and the exercise of which is called suffrage. Common and relevant as the concept of suffrage may be, it cannot be denied that many questions still arise during the selection of national and local political leaders: How does one vote? What are to be and not to be done upon voting? What are the allowable and prohibited campaigns? What are the roles of public officials (e.g. LGU officials, PNP) in the Philippine Election setting? WHY DOES ONE HAVE TO VOTE?
These questions (and more) were answered and discussed thoroughly by the four (4) student volunteers of the Dr. Jovito R. Salonga Center for Law and Development (hereinafter Salonga Center) and a member of the Philippine National Police (PNP) – Dumaguete during a lecture conducted on pertinent election laws and guidelines held last March 7, 2019, in the Barangay Hall of Barangay Taclobo, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental. The said lecturers were Mr. Edcarl Realiza Cagandahan (Juris Doctor-III, Foundation University College of Law and Jurisprudence), Mrs. Ceres Margaret Catacutan-Mangibin (Juris Doctor-III, Silliman University College of Law), Mr. Khonan Dark Cerial (Juris Doctor-IV, Negros Oriental State University-College of Law), Ms. Neapolle Fleur Blanco (Juris Doctor IV, Foundation University-College of Law and Jurisprudence), and Police Senior Inspector Vann Joel Cadayona Tingson (in behalf of Dumaguete Chief of Police Lieutenant Colonel Gregorio Galsim).
The lecture was attended by all the Barangay Officials of Barangay Taclobo, the largest barangay in Dumaguete City and was opened by Mr. Cagandahan, who gave a brief background as to how the Salonga Law Center operates and what its programs are. Thereafter, he discussed the relevance of exercising one’s privilege to vote, how to exercise such privilege, and how to select effective and efficient government officials. Mrs. Catacutan-Mangibin followed and explained the requisites for one to be a qualified voter, the various kinds of voters, and their rights as enshrined in the 1987 Philippine Constitution, the Omnibus Election Code, and the other special laws. Mr. Cerial thoroughly discussed the allowable campaigns that a political candidate may conduct and may place emphasis on campaigns that said candidates are prohibited from doing so, as provided in the previously mentioned laws. Ms. Blanco then elaborated on the newly established “Online Campaigning Rules” as regulated by COMELEC Resolution No. 10488, wherein she recognized the adoption of technological advancements of the Philippines and the former now being one of the modes of and channel for campaigning, thus must be regulated. Finally, PSI Tingson explained the previous and current election data of Negros Oriental and discussed their role in the election scenario of the island as peacekeepers. The lecture was closed by a brief question-and-answer portion led by Atty. Mikhail Lee Maxino, the director of the Salonga Law Center.
“The [Filipino] people elect the leaders they deserve.” However, it is the goal of the Salonga Center that through the inter-barangay legal education program lecture series, and through the knowledge imparted by the lecturers on the aforementioned topics, the constituents of Barangay Taclobo and then Dumaguete City, and hopefully later the Philippines—would be able to choose good leaders and support such leaders by being well-informed and by being good stewards to the local, national, and even to the global community.
by Edcarl Realiza Cagandahan, JD-III
