BAGUIO CITY – The Commission on Election (Comelec) wants the country’s electoral process to be spared from the proliferation of information disorders that tend to compromise the integrity of the said process.
Chairman George Erwin Garcia said that the survival of the country’s democracy is dependent on the integrity of the electoral process and the system, thus, tainting the electoral process and system with a bad image through ongoing information disorders such as misinformation, disinformation and misinformation will definitely compromise the poll body’s efforts to elicit the trust of the people on the process.
He assured that the Commission will do its part in coming out with the true relative to toe conduct of the upcoming May 12, 2025 mid-term elections with the assistance of the media to negate the aggressive efforts of various interest groups to discredit the conduct of the electoral process through different forms of information disorders.
The poll official claimed that part of the ongoing efforts of the Comelec to ensure transparency in the electoral process is the publication of all the certificates of candidacy (COCs) of all national and local candidates and the future publication of their respective statements of election contributions and expenditures.
Under existing guidelines, all candidates are mandated to submit to the poll body their respective statements of election contributions and expenditures incurred during the conduct of the election period one month from the May 12, 2025 mid-term elections.
Garcia pointed out that it is high time to introduce the necessary amendments to existing antiquated election laws as the same had already been overtaken by the rapidly changing times that makes the poll body helpless in addressing issues and concerns transpiring from abuses being committed by candidates, especially in the abuse in the use of State resources, including government vehicles and social media platforms.
According to him, the Commission is now trying to innovate on how to go after blatant violators of existing election laws considering the evident circumventions being done by the candidates and their supporters just to evade their liabilities and the charges that may be filed against them.
Garcia served as one of the resource persons during the Medyang Responsible Mapanuring Botante forum organized by the Philippine Press Institute (PPI), the International media Support (IMS) and the different Media Citizen Councils that were earlier organized in the different parts of the country.
He noted that the Omnibus election Code e took effect in 1985 while the Automated Election system was enacted in 2007 which warrants the need to update said laws to be able to be applicable to the present situation considering the emergence of technology and digitalization aggravated by the proliferation of mis-information, disinformation and misinformation.
He appealed to the media and the public to be discerning on the various forms of information disorders that continue to attack the integrity of the true information to guide them in deciding who among the candidates will they vote for during the conduct of the elections. By Dexter A. See
