ALL illegal-sized posters, tarpaulins and other campaign materials of candidates for the May 13 polls illegally posted outside designated common poster areas will be removed, dismantled and seized by the inter-agency task force led by the Commission on Elections (Pangasinan office) when it launches Oplan Baklas on Feb. 26.

Task force members led by Provincial Election Supervisor Alipio Alonzo Castillo III met on Feb. 20 to discuss its simultaneous implementation across Pangasinan.

2nd Pangasinan Engineering District Engineer Edita Manuel said she will deploy her team to dismantle and haul down the illegal campaign posters or tarpaulins found posted, strung on bridges, electric posts and trees.

“We will do it by town or per road line because the number of our workers is limited so we cannot do it simultaneously,” she said.

Other Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) district engineers also attended the meeting.

Castillo, however, did not say if the candidates who violate the law will be fined or penalized.

P/Sr. Superintendent Wilson Lopez, provincial police director, said the task group will collaborate with other departments to remove illegal posters and their main target initially will be the posters of national candidates.

The campaign period for local aspirants will start on March 29.

The police teams will secure members of the task group removing the posters, Lopez added.

Lawyer Eric Oganiza, Dagupan City election officer and designated spokesman for Oplan Baklas, said illegally posted campaign materials include those that did not comply with the allowable size and were displayed in areas not designated by the Comelec as common poster areas.

Candidates belonging to political parties are allowed to have 2’ x 3’ posters while independent candidates can use 4‘ x 6’ posters/tarpaulins, Oganiza clarified.

The political party or aggrupation can install a 12’ x 16’ poster where the candidates’ names and photos are displayed, he added.

Raymundo Gayo, provincial environment and natural resources officer, said his agency will closely monitor activities of poster teams of candidates who nail posters to tree trunk.

“You’re like injuring a tree,” Gayo said and warned that it is a violation of a law. (Philstar Wire Service)

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