MANILA – The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año said on Thursday night that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) must release guidelines on the activities for candidates before the start of the campaign period in February next year.
Año’s statement came after presidential aspirant, former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., and his running mate, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte conducted a caravan along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City on Wednesday.
Apart from causing traffic congestion, health regulations such as physical distancing were disregarded as a result of the caravan’s massive gathering.
“We’re asking the Comelec to say what are the political activities that are allowed and not allowed. We hope it will be definite because there might be similar incidents in the future,” Año said in a message.
He added that the issue would need to be discussed by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) in order to avoid similar “super spreader” events.
“We will discuss this with the IATF, with the Comelec because the start of the campaign period is still in February, it’s a long way to go. We should be thankful that the Omicron (variant of Covid-19) is not yet here and our numbers (on Covid-19 infections) are good,” Año said.
According to Año, the Philippine National Police (PNP) and local government units can only execute minimum public health guidelines.
The Quezon City government has stated that the caravan’s organizers declined to work with local authorities.
The Marcos camp has previously apologized for the inconvenience caused by the caravan to motorists.
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