i-site’s 2007 Election Files

THE Social Weather Stations is pushing for the removal of a section of R.A. 9006 or the Fair Elections Act, which has been struck down as unconstitutional.

Section 5.4 prohibits the publication of election surveys for 15 days before elections are held.

Two decisions by the Supreme Court, ABS-CBN v. Comelec (Commission on Elections) and SWS v. Comelec, have affirmed the dissemination of election surveys at any time before the elections.

By continuing to include section 5.4 in the Fair Elections Act, the SWS says that the Comelec is “misleading” Filipinos about “their freedom to express themselves by means of election surveys.”

The SWS is also demanding a formal apology from the Comelec for including Sec. 5.4 in Comelec Resolution 7767, the implementing rules and regulations of R.A. 9006. It is also calling for a “transparent investigation of the cause of the error, for proper penalties to be meted to the persons responsible, and for measures to be taken to prevent repetition of the error in the future.” According to the SWS, the Comelec continues to ignore its demands.

However, the Comelec “is not in the business of changing the law,” said the poll body’s Education and Information Department director James Jimenez. He added that if the SWS wanted to remove Section 5.4, they should ask Congress, or file a specific request to the Comelec commissioners en banc.

Since Sec. 5.4 was deemed unconstitutional, the Comelec treats it as inoperable, according to Jimenez.

“Part of this law has already been struck down as unconstitutional. Even if it’s there, it will not have any effect.”