The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday kicked off its crackdown on illegal campaign materials for the upcoming midterm elections.

Comelec Chairperson George Garcia said the poll body will go after candidates who continuously violate election laws.

“This is a huge symbolism, and it’s for the whole country to show candidates and political parties in the next few days that if they post campaign materials in prohibited areas, we will remove them,” Garcia said.

Still, Garcia said, they could not just remove campaign materials posted on private properties because they are protected by the rights of property owners.

He explained that they will not yet remove campaign materials of those aspirants running for local positions, as the campaign period for them has yet to start.

The 45-day campaign period for local candidates — for the House of Representatives, as well as for regional, provincial, city, and municipal officials — will start on 28 March.

However, the campaign period for national positions — senators and party-list representatives — started on 11 February and will run until 10 May.

Garcia said the Comelec will keep all confiscated campaign materials and use them as evidence in filing appropriate charges.

“We cannot burn them or simply dispose or throw them away because we have to properly account for them should a case against a candidate need to be filed,” he said.

The Comelec chief earlier reminded candidates that posters should not exceed two feet by three feet in size, while streamers are allowed only for public meetings or rallies and should not exceed three feet by eight feet in size.

They may be displayed for a maximum of five days before an event and must be taken down within 24 hours after.

“If they don’t remove them within three days, we will file an election offense case and seek their possible disqualification,” he said.

Designated common poster areas, according to Comelec, are mostly public places such as plazas, markets, barangay centers, and areas where crowds gather.

“We will remove those that are not in common poster areas and if they are not the right size or are placed incorrectly. After we give candidates a notice and they still do not remove their posters, we will charge them with an election offense, which carries a penalty of one to six years imprisonment,” Garcia said.

Likewise, he told candidates that the allowed length for political advertisements on television is 120 minutes per station and 180 minutes per radio station.

He said that candidates belonging to a political party are only allowed to spend P3 per voter, while independent candidates are allowed to spend P5 per voter.