Biñan City Mayor Arman Dimaguila and Vice-mayor Gel Alonte spearheaded a clearing operation to rid the city of unauthorized, illegally-placed election campaign materials.

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Resolution No. 11086 states that “all prohibited forms of election propaganda shall be immediately removed, or caused to be removed, by said candidate or party at least 72 hours before the start of the campaign period.”

For the upcoming polls, the 90-day campaign period for senators and party-list representatives started last Feb. 11 until May 10, while local candidates will be allowed to campaign beginning March 28 to May 10.

Dimaguila said their clearing campaign in “non-discriminating,” and will apply to all oversized streamers illegally placed in sites prohibited by the Comelec, whether these streamers or tarpaulins support national or local candidates.

“Huwag na nating hintayin ang simula ng kampanya sa March 28 para sa lokal. Kanina, una namin pinaalis mismo ang streamer na oversized at wala sa tamang lokasyon. Doon lamang tayo sa common crossing area. Lahat po ay sumunod. Wala po ang komo-partido ng administration accepted. Doon lang po tayo sa tamang lugar [Let us not wait for the start of the campaign for local officials on March 28. Earlier, we removed oversized streamers because it was placed in the wrong location. We should only post campaign materials in the common crossing area. Everyone should follow, including administration candidates. Let us place our campaign materials in the right places].”

He further said that election campaign materials should not be posted on trees since this practice is not environment friendly.

For his part, Vice Mayor Alonte said that this early, voters can already gauge the character and intent of a candidate in the way a candidate posts his or her election paraphernalia.

“Hindi natin kailangang maglagay ng sobrang daming streamer sa paligid natin. Tignan natin ang performance ng mga kandidato, mula kampanya, hanggang eleksyon [We do not need to place too many streamers. We can gauge the performance of the candidates, from the start of the election campaign period up until election day]”, Vice Mayor Alonte said.