A test of honor and decency

COMMISSION on Election offices around the country will be bustling this week until the 1st of December as the filing of certificates of candidacy takes place. Who will actually be joining the May 2010 race for the various national and local positions will finally be put in official form, into a computer system in fact in line with the first-time computerized polls.

After that, it will be a pretty long wait before the official campaign period starts. For the national polls – president, vice president, senators, and party-list congressional representative – it is from Feb. 9 to May 8. For the local selection – governor, mayor, vice mayor, council members – it is from March 26 to May 8. Prior to these dates, candidates are not supposed to electioneer, which means not making any initiative or taking any effort towards their victory in the election.  But we all know that will absolutely not be the case.

The Comelec, including the Pangasinan provincial office headed by Reddy Balarbar, has warned candidates against premature campaigning.  The Comelec itself cannot penalize violators.  A case will have to be filed by an opposing candidate, then the Comelec will make the decision whether the complaint does merit disqualification. But the Comelec does not really want to be flooded with such complaints. As it is, the agency has got its hands full with preparations for implementing the new computerized system, which is supposed to minimize, if not completely do away, with all sorts of election fraud.

So it is really largely up to the candidates’ sense of decency to respect the supposed period of calm before the campaign circus begins. It will actually be a good test of integrity among candidates – whether they have enough honor not to plaster their smiling faces in posters and tarpaulins all over town to make a public greeting or turning out in media to sweet talk the audience under the guise of information dissemination.

Candidates who will refrain from such premature campaign tactics will also be showing propriety, both to the people and the environment, by respecting public places and spaces.

And it will be a sign of respect and belief in the intelligence of the voting population who could not be easily swayed or fooled by electioneering strategies hidden behind shallow niceties.

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