A LECTURE ON ELECTION LAWS & GUIDELINES

A Write-up by Edcarl Realiza Cagandahan, JD-III

“The effort of the government alone will never be enough. In the end, the people must choose and
the people must help themselves.”

These were the eternal words of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy in his address at
a White House Reception for members of Congress and for the Diplomatic Corps of the
Latin American Republics on March 13th, 1961.

The Philippines is a democratic-republic country with a presidential form of

government, wherein power is equally divided among its three (3) branches: the
executive, the legislative, and the judiciary, which also means that the members of the
legislative branch and the President and Vice President of the executive branch are
elected by the electorate—the Filipino people—in a procedure referred to as voting, and
the exercise of which is called suffrage. Common and relevant as the concept of suffrage
may be, it cannot be denied that many questions still arise during the selection of
national and local political leaders: how does one vote? What are to be and not to be
done upon voting? What are the allowable and prohibited campaigns? What are the
roles of public officials (e.g. LGU officials, PNP) in the Philippine Election setting? WHY
DOES ONE HAVE TO VOTE?

These questions (and more) were answered and discussed thoroughly by four (4)
student volunteers of the Dr. Jovito R. Salonga Center for Law and Development
(hereinafter Salonga Center) and a member of the PNP-Dumaguete during a lecture
conducted on pertinent election laws and guidelines held last March 7th, 2019, in the
Barangay Hall of Brgy. Taclobo, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental. The said lecturers
were Mr. Edcarl Realiza Cagandahan (Juris Doctor-III, Foundation University-College
of Law and Jurisprudence), Mrs. Ceres Margaret Catacutan-Mangibin (Juris Doctor-III,
Silliman University-College of Law), Mr. Khonan Dark Cerial (Juris Doctor-IV, Negros
Oriental State University-College of Law), Ms. Neapolle Fleur Blanco (Juris Doctor IV,
Foundation University-College of Law and Jurisprudence), and Police Senior Inspector
Vann Joel Cadayona Tingson (in behalf of Dumaguete Chief of Police Lt. Col. Gregorio
Galsim).

The lecture was attended by all the Barangay Officials of Barangay Taclobo—the latter
being the largest barangay in Dumaguete City—and was opened by Mr. Cagandahan,
whereby he gave a brief background as to how the Salonga Center operates and what
its programs are. Thereafter, he discussed the relevance of exercising one’s privilege to
vote, how to exercise such privilege, and how to select effective and efficient
government officials. Mrs. Catacutan-Mangibin followed, and explained the requisites
for one to be a qualified voter, the various kinds of voters, and their rights, as enshrined
in the 1987 Philippine Constitution, the Omnibus Election Code, and other special laws.
Mr. Cerial thoroughly discussed the allowable campaigns that a political candidate may
conduct and placed emphasis on campaigns that said candidates are prohibited from
doing so, as provided in the previously mentioned laws. Ms. Blanco then elaborated on
the newly established “Online Campaigning Rules” as regulated by COMELEC
Resolution No. 10488, wherein she recognized the adaption of technological
advancements of the Philippines and the former now being a one of the modes of and
channel for campaigning, thus must be regulated. Finally, PSI Tingson explained the
previous and current election data of Negros Oriental and discussed their role in the
election scenario of the island as peace-keepers. The lecture was closed by a brief
question-and-answer portion led by Atty. Mikhail Lee Maxino, director of the Salonga
Center.

“The [Filipino] people elect the leaders they deserve.” However, it is the goal of the Salonga
Center that, through the inter-barangay legal education program lecture series, and
with the knowledge imparted by the lecturers on the aforementioned topics, the
constituents of Brgy. Taclobo—and then Dumaguete City, and hopefully later the
Philippines—would be able to choose good leaders, and support such leaders by being
well-informed and good stewards to the local, national, and even to the global
community.