Penalties sought for persons spreading no-election rumors

Rumor mongers, beware. Anyone caught spreading unverified no-election scenarios will face penalties, including detention of anywhere from one to six years. That is if the proposal of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s election lawyer is approved.

On Monday, Romulo Macalintal asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to file charges against individuals spreading rumors of this nature. "Kung ang kinakalat mo ay mga false information at wala kang basehan (If the information being disseminated is false and baseless)... an election offense case can be filed against them," Macalintal told reporters in an interview. Under Section 261, Article XXII of the Omnibus Election Code (OEC), persons are prohibited from “propagat[ing] false and alarming reports or information… directives or messages regarding any matter relating to the printing of official ballots, the postponement of the election, the transfer of polling place or the general conduct of the election." The same provision also prohibits any person from obstructing or disrupting the election process and/or sowing confusion among voters. Besides being an election-related offense, violation of the code is punishable by one to six years imprisonment, disenfranchisement, and disqualification from public office. Macalintal added that persons who keep on spreading rumors about a failure of elections are just afraid of losing in automated elections and do not really understand what it actually means to have a failed election. "Kapag sinabi mong failure of elections, it means no voting, but the moment you start shading the ballot o isulat yung pangalan nung kandidato sa balota, it means there is voting, and therefore there is no failure of elections," he said. (An election failure means no voting but the moment you start shading the ballot or write the name of a candidate on a ballot, it already shows that voting took place and therefore there is no failure of elections.) "Ang taong bayan ay hindi dapat matakot sa ganyang statements (The public should not be scared of statements like that)," he added. He also urged the public to not vote for candidates who propagate such rumors. "Wag ninyong iboboto ang mga tao na ito dahil sinisira nila ang ating bayan (Don't vote for these people because they are ruining our country)," he said. Although Comelec Law Department head Ferdinand Rafanan agreed that rumormongers must be corrected, he nevertheless said that they have the right to express such thoughts. "Sa akin lang, fear nila yun, it's their right to express their fear, bakit mo naman sila parusahan (For me, it's their right to express their fear, so why would we punish them?)," he told GMANews.TV in an interview. For his part, Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said that these people should be "careful" with their statements in the future because they have "serious repercussions." "You should not expand the meaning of failure of elections to accommodate some conspiracy theories," he said. Meanwhile, Macalintal said that he and other election lawyers are planning to come out with advertisements that would assure the voters of the success of the elections in May. "Let's give automation a chance," he said. Palace allays fears of a military junta As this developed, a Palace spokesperson maintained that the opposition should refrain from scaring people about the scenario of an election failure. “Here’s the P64 question: how would such opposition react if their standard bearer loses? Could they find it within themselves to respect a process an outcome that frustrates what to them is pre-ordained? Could it be that such people would have their own Plan B, their own fall back scenario, in case Plan A fails?" deputy presidential spokesperson Gary Olivar said at a Monday briefing in Malacañang. He also downplayed fears of a military junta taking over government. A military junta “is in the realm of fantasy," Olivar added. A junta will only occur if there is a failure to declare a winner in the elections, rendering all branches of government powerless because of vacancies. These scenarios “are not only unfair to the President, they’re also fantastical…They’re in the realm of fantasy," he added. Failure of elections is statistically impossible, citing contingency plans ensuring that the elections would proceed, votes would be counted, and winners would be proclaimed. The Comelec can always resort to manual counting should the need arise, he added. If no winners for the presidential and vice-presidential positions are proclaimed, “hold over members of the Senate – assuming nobody gets elected among the senatoriables as well-could simply elect a new senate president from among themselves between election day and June 30," Olivar said. “That person could then step up as number three in the presidential line of succession," he added. Twelve “hold-over" senators include Senate Majority leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, presidential aspirants Manuel Villar Jr. and Benigno Aquino III, and senators Edgardo Angara, Joker Arroyo, Alan Peter Cayetano, Francis Escudero, Francis Pangilinan, Antonio Trillanes IV, Gregorio Honasan II, and Panfilo Lacson. In the meantime, Acting Defense Secretary and National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales dismissed a white paper which indicated that military personnel are “restive" and “unhappy." Gonzales refused to believe in the allegations raised by the document, which was issued after the President appointed members of the Philippine Military Academy’s (PMA) Class of 1978 to key military positions. The move bypassed members of PMA’s Class of 1977, who are more senior. PMA Class of 1978 has adopted Arroyo as its honorary member. Gibo vows to oppose junta For his part, administration presidential candidate Gilberto "Gibo" Teodoro Jr. vowed to oppose a military junta or any extra-constitutional attempts to seize power in case of a failure of elections. “I am against any junta…Hindi ako sasama or papabor sa anumang unconstitutional na gawain o paglapastangan ng Saligang Batas. Tututulan ko pa," Teodoro said in a chance interview during a sortie at the Quinta Market in Manila. (I will not participate nor favor any move that is unconstitutional. I will even oppose it.) A military junta is “anti-Filipino" and will only discourage foreign investors and encourage the rich to migrate. Filipinos should have learned their lessons from the extra-constitutional measures that they took to oust the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos and former president Joseph Estrada, he said. Although he refused to specify his moves to oppose a junta, he said he will “react to circumstances." “You do your civic obligation as a citizen," he said. “As a citizen everyone has the obligation to oppose it." - with Kim Tan and Aie B. See, RJAB Jr/KBK, GMANews.TV