Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque on Monday said his presence in various Covid-19 vaccination rollouts is not part of election campaign.
In a virtual Palace presser, Roque said he is not using the country’s inoculation program to promote himself ahead of the May 2022 elections.
“Certainly not po. I am spokesperson not just for the President but also for IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force),” he said.
He made the comment when asked if he felt alluded to by the call of poll watchdog Kontra Daya that the government should investigate the politicians exploiting the vaccination program for their election plan.
Roque, along with other national government officials, have been attending various vaccination events hosted by local government units and the private sector, as part of the government’s task force for Covid-19 response.
“I consider my role as spokesperson to be very crucial in promoting vaccine confidence,” he said.
No jurisdiction yet
Kontra Daya convenor Danilo Arao earlier urged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to look into the “underhanded ways of politicians” to promote themselves.
“This is clearly a case of premature campaigning. Comelec should not be too technical and legalistic in refusing to do something about it,” he said.
Roque, however, said the Comelec cannot impose yet its jurisdiction among 2022 potential candidates, since the campaign period for national positions is set from Feb. 8, 2022 to May 7, 2022.
“Well, wala pong hurisdiksyon ang Comelec unless campaign period na. So hindi ko po alam kung gustong gawin ng Comelec iyan. Pero gustuhin man nila o hindi, ang pagkakaalam ko sa batas, kapag hindi pa campaign period ay wala pang hurisdiksyon ang Comelec to implement our election laws (The Comelec has still no jurisdiction unless it’s already campaign period. So I don’t know what will the Comelec do about that. But as much as we want it or not, as far as I know, by the law, the Comelec has no jurisdiction to implement our election law if it is not yet campaign period),” Roque said.
The existing election laws state a candidate is not considered a candidate unless the campaign period has already started.
“Wala pa rin pong naghahain ng kahit anong certificate of candidacy so I think the statement po is bereft of merit (Nobody has filed a certificate of candidacy so that statement (of Kontra Daya) is bereft of merit,” Roque said.
Source: Philippines News Agency