By Rodolfo Dacleson II
(February 2, 2025) – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Saturday touted the pact it entered with technology giants to address concerns regarding political advertisements in online platforms for this year’s elections.
Comelec chairperson George Garcia said the agreement will reiterate the guidelines for monitoring possible violations regarding campaigning on social media.
“Napakaganda ng in-offer sa atin ng TikTok and nagkaroon na rin kami ng agreement sa Meta and Google. Puwede namin gawing basehan na ‘yun (to monitor candidates in social media),” said Garcia on TV5’s “The Grill.”
Last October, TikTok, Meta, and Google pledged to ban paid political advertisements during the campaign period for the midterm elections and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao parliamentary elections.
Last September, the Comelec signed Resolution No. 11064 to monitor the online spending of candidates. It required individuals and campaign teams to register their social media accounts and pages and other digital-based campaign platforms.
The poll body, however, amended the resolution by removing the mandatory registration of social media accounts due to alleged violations of freedom of expression.
ALSO READ: Watchdog sounds alarm on Comelec’s digital regulations for 2025 elections
Republic Act No. 7166 compels candidates to declare their statements of contributions and expenditures (SOCE) to check if their expenses were within the limits prescribed by the law.
It also states that the campaign for president and vice president, senators, party-list representatives, and those without a political party are limited to “aggregate” sums of P10, P3, and P5 per registered voter, respectively.
Garcia, meanwhile, also noted that they will be closely monitoring the spending for celebrities and online influencers in campaigns, underscoring the “sense of fairness” among all candidates.
“Hindi naman namin hinahabol ang influencers or celebrities, para lang maliwanag. Anyone of you will be endorsing, hindi kayo ang hinahabol namin. Ang kandidato ang hinahabol namin,” added Garcia.
A report by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism in January revealed that some candidates for the upcoming elections already spent a combined total of over P4 billion on television and radio advertisements even before the filing of the certificate of candidacy last October.
(PM)
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