The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has reminded government officials across the country not to participate in electioneering and partisan activities.
“No, they can’t. They can’t participate in partisan political activities,” Comelec chairperson George Garcia told reporters in a Viber message on Tuesday.
Electioneering and partisan political activity refer to acts designed to promote the election or defeat a particular candidate or party to public office.
The 1987 Constitution mandates that no officer or employee in civil service shall engage, directly or indirectly, in these acts.
The prohibition covers members of the civil service, whether permanent, temporary, contractual, or casual, who are employed in all branches, subdivisions, instrumentalities, and agencies of the Philippine government; career officers holding political offices in an acting or officer-in-charge capacity; and uniformed and active members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police.
Employees on leave of absence are also covered.
Civil servants, nonetheless, are allowed to cast their votes, express their views on current political problems or issues, mention the names of candidates or parties they support, and publicly express their opinions or engage in discussions of probable issues in a forthcoming election, or on attributes of or criticisms against probable candidates to be nominated on a forthcoming political party convention.
Meanwhile, on social media use, government workers may repost, share, like, comment, or follow a candidate’s or party’s account as long as they do not explicitly solicit support for or against a candidate or party during the campaign period.
Government employees who will be found guilty of engaging directly or indirectly in partisan political activities will be meted with a penalty of one month and one day to six months suspension for the first offense, and dismissal from the service for the second offense, according to the 2017 Rules on Administrative Cases in the Civil Service.
The filing of the certificate of candidacy will begin from 1 to 8 October, while COC filing for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao polls is slated from 4 to 9 November.