No ‘ayuda’ giving, raffles during poll campaign: Comelec

MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Thursday said giving money as a form of ‘ayuda’ (assistance) or the raffles by candidates is prohibited once the campaign period for the polls starts.

“That’s prohibited, that is vote buying. Can’t give anything of value to supporters to encourage them to vote. You might say that is for another reason but none of us are born yesterday. We all know that it’s going to be for vote-buying purposes,” Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said in a virtual press briefing.

Jimenez, meanwhile, appealed to those who will witness such an illegal act to file a complaint and pursue it.

“It’s very important. For those who see such things being done, you feel are vote-buying activities, please file a complaint. And please stay with the complaint so we can prosecute to the finish,” he said.

The 90-day campaign period for national posts such as president, vice-president, senator and party-list groups will begin on February 8, while the 45-day campaign period for local aspirants will start on March 25.

“It goes without saying that you can no longer give money away and say it is for ayuda, you can’t walk around with a cash gun and make it rain. You can’t do that,” Jimenez added.

Meanwhile, he said candidates would have to take down their illegally placed posters once the campaign period starts.

“It’s not prohibited. But February 8, then that will be problematic. We will inform them ahead of time that they will have to take down all of these previously posted materials that are in violation of our rules,” Jimenez said, noting that these include huge posters and billboards along roads.

He said the Comelec campaign committee will release the guidelines soon.

“They can’t post in places that are not in common poster areas. But for the most part, a lot of places don’t have as many posters as they used to be. For the most part, attached to poster areas, billboards, not too many streamers are evident. This is something they have to be more careful about in the coming days,” he said.

Jimenez also warned that illegally placed campaign materials will be taken down.

“While I say that, the supporters might gear up to increase the number of posters of their candidates. But that’s going to be problematic for them. Because Comelec will have a takedown operation for illegally posted materials,” he said.