In Re Atty. Ferdinand T. Rafanan

February 18, 2004

MINUTE RESOLUTION NO. 04-0113

IN THE MATTER OF THE MEMORANDUM OF ATTY. FERDINAND T. RAFANAN, DIRECTOR IV, EDUCATION AND INFORMATION DEPARTMENT, RELATIVE TO THE KBP'S PROPOSED AMENDMENT OF THE IMPLEMENTING RULES OF THE FAIR ELECTIONS ACT (RES. NO. 6520)

Excerpt from the Minutes of the Regular En Banc Meeting of the Commission on Elections held on 18 February 2004

This pertains to the Memorandum date 27 January 2004 of Atty. Ferdinand T. Rafanan, Director IV, Education and Information Department, relative to the KBP's Proposed Amendment of the Implementing Rules of the Fair Elections Act (Res. No. 6520).

The Memorandum of Atty. Rafanan reads:

"Please be advised that during the Conference with the representatives of the Tri-Media at the Session Hall on January 14, 2004, followed by another Conference on January 20, 2004 at the office of the Executive Director, amendments to En Banc Resolution No. 6520 were proposed by the KBP to make pertinent provisions thereof read as follows:

SECTION 13. Requirements and/or Limitations on the Use of Election Propaganda through Mass Media. — All registered political parties, party-list groups, organizations, and/or coalitions thereof, and bona fide candidates shall have equal access to media time and space for their election propaganda during the campaign period subject to the following requirements and/or limitations:

1. Broadcast Election Propaganda

The aggregate duration of air time that a candidate, or registered political party, party-list group, organization, and/or coalition thereof may use for their broadcast advertisements or election propaganda shall be, as follows:

a)	For candidates/ Registered Political	One hundred twenty (120) minutes for each television or
	parties for a National Elective Position	cable television, and one hundred eighty (180) minutes for
		each radio station whether by purchase or donation.
b)	For candidates/ Registered Political	Sixty (60) minutes for each television or cable television, and
	Parties for a Local Elective Position	ninety (90) minutes for each radio station whether by
		purchase or donation, provided that election expenses for
		broadcast election propaganda shall be considered in
		determining compliance with the election expenses limitation
		provided by law.

Broadcast stations or entities shall allocate air time equally and impartially, through raffle, to political parties, party-list groups, organizations, and/or coalitions thereof, and bona fide candidates subject to the requirements and/or limitations on the use of media time for election propaganda purposes herein provided.

Where feasible, said broadcast stations or entities may provide common but separate time slots for the official candidates of registered political parties and party-list groups, organizations, and/or coalitions thereof, on one hand, and for independent candidates, on the other.

2. Common requirements/limitations

xxx xxx xxx

c) For the above purpose, each broadcast entity shall submit a true copy of its certificate of performance for the review and verification of the frequency, date, time, and duration of advertisements aired for any candidate, political party, or party-list group, organization and/or coalition thereof to the Commission, and submit its broadcast logs whenever required.

Duplicate original or certified true copies of certificates of performance shall be submitted as follows:

1. For Candidates for National Positions

1st report - within the second week of their campaign period

2nd report - within the sixth week of their campaign period

3rd report - within the last week of their campaign period

4th report - within two (2) days before election day."

Subsequently on 3 February 2004, the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP), sent a letter addressed to Chairman Benjamin S. Abalos, Sr., on the same subject, which reads:

"We would like to appeal to the Honorable Commissioners for immediate action on our request for the revision of the Implementing Rules of R.A. 9006 issued under COMELEC Resolution No. 6520. We are informed that the proposed revisions are contained in a memorandum dated January 27, 2004 forwarded to you by Atty. Ferdinand T. Rafanan, following our meeting with him last January 14, 2004 to discuss the concerns of the broadcast media about some of the provisions of the Resolution No. 6520.

Among these provisions is Section 13, which construes the amount of political advertisements for a candidate specified in R.A. 9006 as an aggregate total for all instead of for each station. At the risk of being repetitious, such interpretation is inconsistent with the intention of R.A. 9006.

As we have pointed out in previous presentations to the Commission, an aggregate of 120 minutes of political advertisement for all television stations of 120 minutes of political advertisement for all television stations and 180 minutes for all radio stations is not enough for a national candidate to have an impact on the electorate. The Commission may wish to consider that the radio and television audience is segmented, each radio and television station only holds a portion of the audience at any given time, the viewers and listeners of one station are hardly the same people who watch and listen to another station. Often, the same station would have different groups of people watching or listening to different programs, requiring messages to be aired frequently. Add also to this, the fact that there are more than 45 different broadcast service areas throughout the country with each service area by different groups of stations.

Hence, for a candidate to reach to a significant number of voting public, he must not only place his message in several stations in the same area, but also in several stations in different areas, since stations have different service areas. If all the time he is given 120 and 180 minutes for all TV and radio stations, respectively, he will be able to allot only a few seconds for a station for the entire 90 days of a campaign in the case of candidates for national positions.

We might also note here that the COMELEC Resolution 6520 applies the limitations on political advertisements in the print media on a per publication basis.

One of the objections to allowing to have a limit of 180 or 120 minutes of political advertisements per station is that this may result in overspending by a candidate. This may not be the case, however, considering that expenditures on radio and TV advertisements are easy to check and candidates will be wary about exceeding the limits on campaign spending set by the law.

R.A. 9006 was conceived to provide voters with enough information about the candidates and to provide equal opportunity to all candidates to deliver their messages to the largest number of the electorate. Making the limits on the amount of political advertisement in broadcast station applicable per station for all stations will help accomplish this purpose. We trust that the Commission will act favorably on our request and treat this matter as urgent considering that the start of the campaign period is only a few days away."

Section 6.2 (a) and (b) of R.A. 9006 [An Act to Enhance the Holding of Free, Orderly, Honest, Peaceful and Credible Elections through Fair Election practices] provides:

"6.2. (a) Each bona fide candidate or registered political party for a nationally elective office shall be entitled to not more than one hundred twenty (120) minutes of television advertisement and one hundred eighty (180) minutes of radio advertisement whether by purchase or donation.

(b) Each bona fide candidate or registered political party for a locally elective office shall be entitled to not more than sixty (60) minutes of television advertisement and ninety (90) minutes of radio advertisement whether by purchase or donation."

Considering that the law as stated herein did not categorically state that the 120 minutes of TV ads and 180 minutes of radio ads refer to all radio and TV stations the Commission RESOLVED , as it hereby RESOLVES, to amend and clarify Sec. 13 of Res. No. 6520, to now read as follows:

1. Broadcast Election Propaganda

The aggregate duration of air time that a candidate, or registered political party, party-list group, organization, and/or coalition thereof may use for their broadcast advertisements or election propaganda shall be, as follows:

a)	For candidates/Registered Political	One hundred twenty (120) minutes for each television or
	parties for a National Elective Position	cable television, and one hundred eighty (180) minutes for
		each radio station whether by purchase or donation.
b)	For candidates/Registered Political	Sixty (60) minutes for each television or cable television, and
	parties for a Local Elective Position	ninety (90) minutes for each radio station whether purchase
		or donation, provided that election expenses for broadcast
		election propaganda shall be considered in determining
		compliance with the election expenses limitation provided by
		law.

Provided, that the candidate shall not exceed the limits on campaign spending set by law; and provided, further, that a copy of the broadcast advertisement contract be furnished the Commission, thru the Education and Information Department, before airing said advertisements.

Let the Law Department implement this resolution.

So Ordered.

(SGD.) BENJAMIN S. ABALOS, SR.ChairmanCommission on Elections

(SGD.) RUFINO S.B. JAVIERCommissioner

(SGD.)RESURRECCION Z. BORRACommissioner

(SGD.) VIRGILIO O. GARCILLIANOCommissioner

(SGD.) MEHOL K. SADAINCommissioner

(SGD.) FLORENTINO A. TUASON, JR.Commissioner

(SGD.) MANUEL A. BARCELONA, JR.Commissioner