News peg: “Comelec to open citizens’ watch vs poll violators”. The Comelec said today that it wold come out with an advertisement that would encourage the public to report election law violations of the Fair Election Act and its IRR, Comelec Resolution 9615, before Feb. 12, the start of the campaign period.
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By the way, Comelec Resolution 9615 has a “right to reply” provision as follows:
COMELEC Resolution 9615 as amended Feb. 1, 2013:
“SECTION 14. Right to Reply. – All registered political parties, party-list groups or coalitions and bona fide candidates shall have the right to reply to charges published or aired against them. The reply shall be given publicity by the newspaper, television, and/or radio station which first printed or aired the charges with the same prominence or in the same page or section or in the same time slot as the first statement.
Registered political parties, partv-list groups or coalitions and bona fide candidates may invoke the right to reply by submitting within a non-extendible period of forty-eight (48) hours from the first broadcast or publication, a formal verified claim against the media outlet to the COMELEC, through the appropriate RED. The claim shall include a detailed enumeration .of the circumstances and occurrences which warrant the invocation of the right of reply and must be accompanied by supporting evidence, such as a copy of the publication or recording of the television or radio broadcast, as the case may be . If the supporting evidence is not yet available due to circumstances beyond the power of the . claimant, the latter shall supplement his claim as soon as the supporting evidence becomes available, without delay on the part of the claimant. The claimant must likewise furnish a copy of the verified claim and its attachments to the media outlet concerned prior to the filing of the claim with the COMELEC.
“The COMELEC, through the RED, shall review the verified claim within . forty-eight (48) hours from receipt thereof, including supporting evidence, and if circumstances warrant, give notice to the media outlet involved for appropriate action, which shall, within forty-eight (48) hours, submit its comment, answer or response to the RED, explaining the action it has taken to address the claim. The media outlet must likewise furnish a copy of the said comment, answer or response to the claimant invoking the right to reply. Should the claimant insist that his/her right to reply was not addressed, he/she may file the appropriate petition and/or complaint before the Commission on elections or its field offices, which shall be endorsed to the Clerk of the Commission.”
News peg: MMDA tears down posters of “epal” politicians. [“epal” politicians are those who promote themselves thru the visual media (tarps and posters) and the multimedia (ads and other forms of publicity) in the guise of sending out greetings, giving free services, “sponsoring” infrastructure.]
Aside from the pertinent city ordinances prohibiting vandalism, the MMDA may also rely on the following provisions of the Civil Code:
Book II. Property, Ownership, and its Modifications. Title VIII.- Nuisance.
“Art. 694. A nuisance is any act, omission, establishment, business, condition of property, or anything else which:
(1) Injures or endangers the health or safety of others; or
(2) Annoys or offends the senses; or
(3) Shocks, defies or disregards decency or morality; or
(4) Obstructs or interferes with the free passage of any public highway or street, or any body of water; or
(5) Hinders or impairs the use of property.
(Underscoring supplied)
Art. 695. Nuisance is either public or private. A public nuisance affects a community or neighborhood or any considerable number of persons, although the extent of the annoyance, danger or damage upon individuals may be unequal. A private nuisance is one that is not included in the foregoing definition.
Art. 697. The abatement of a nuisance does not preclude the right of any person injured to recover damages for its past existence.
Art. 698. Lapse of time cannot legalize any nuisance, whether public or private.
Art. 699. The remedies against a public nuisance are:
(1) A prosecution under the Penal Code or any local ordinance: or
(2) A civil action; or
(3) Abatement, without judicial proceedings.
Art. 704. Any private person may abate a public nuisance which is specially injurious to him by removing, or if necessary, by destroying the thing which constitutes the same, without committing a breach of the peace, or doing unnecessary injury. But it is necessary:
(1) That demand be first made upon the owner or possessor of the property to abate the nuisance;
(2) That such demand has been rejected;
(3) That the abatement be approved by the district health officer and executed with the assistance of the local police; and
(4) That the value of the destruction does not exceed three thousand pesos.
Art. 705. The remedies against a private nuisance are:
(1) A civil action; or
(2) Abatement, without judicial proceedings.
Art. 706. Any person injured by a private nuisance may abate it by removing, or if necessary, by destroying the thing which constitutes the nuisance, without committing a breach of the peace or doing unnecessary injury. However, it is indispensable that the procedure for extrajudicial abatement of a public nuisance by a private person be followed.
Art. 707. A private person or a public official extrajudicially abating a nuisance shall be liable for damages:
(1) If he causes unnecessary injury; or
(2) If an alleged nuisance is later declared by the courts to be not a real nuisance.
