ILOILO City – Campaigning is not allowed immediately after aspiring candidates for the May 12, 2025 midterm elections have filed their certificates of candidacy (COCs) from October 1 to 8.
“The campaign period for national candidates will start 90 days before the election, while local candidates have 45 days to campaign. Official campaigning should only occur during these periods,” Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) Western Visayas director, Atty. Dennis Ausan told Panay News.
Specifically, the campaign period for local candidates, including congressional district lawmakers, provincial, city, and municipal officials, is from March 28, 2025 until May 10, 2025 while that for national positions (senators and party-list groups) is from February 11, 2025 to May 10, 2025.
However, Ausan acknowledged that there is no specific law explicitly prohibiting campaigning outside the official period.
Previously, Section 80 of the Omnibus Election Code declared it illegal for any person or group to engage in election campaigns or partisan political activities outside the campaign period. Violators could face election offenses, including imprisonment from one to six years, disenfranchisement, or disqualification from holding public office.
In a 2009 ruling, however, the Supreme Court’s decision in the Peñera vs Comelec case established that candidates who filed their COCs are not considered official candidates until the campaign period begins, allowing them to participate in partisan activities without legal repercussions.
“As interpreted by the Supreme Court in the Peñera Doctrine, candidates who file their COCs from October 1 to 8 can engage in partisan political activities without facing penalties before the official campaign period,” Ausan explained.
Despite this, Comelec chairman George Erwin Garcia, in an April 2024 statement, emphasized that premature campaigning rules would be enforced as soon as candidates file their COCs for the 2025 elections.
He stated that the poll body would consider all COC filers as candidates and apply premature campaigning policies accordingly.
This is not the first time the Comelec under Garcia’s leadership has enforced such measures. During the 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, the Comelec issued show cause orders to 7,500 candidates for early campaigning, with 253 of them being disqualified pending case resolutions.
Key Dates for the 2025 Elections
* August 31, 2024 – last day for the Register Anywhere Program
* September 30, 2024 – deadline for local and overseas voter registration
* October 1-8, 2024 — filing of COCs and certificates of nomination
* January 12 – June 11, 2025 – election period (includes gun ban and other restrictions)
* February 11 – May 10, 2025 – Campaign period for national candidates
* March 28 – May 10, 2025 – Campaign period for local candidates
* April 13 – May 12, 2025 – overseas voting
* April 28 to 30, 2025 – voting by local absentee voters
* May 11, 2025 – liquor ban
* May 12, 2025 – Election Day
* June 11, 2025 – deadline for filing of Statements of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCE)
The Comelec has also announced that substitutions for candidates who voluntarily withdraw will not be allowed after the COC filing deadline of October 8, 2024.
Additionally, starting January 12, 2025, several election-related restrictions will take effect, including the prohibition on suspending elective officials, and limits on the movement of civil service officers./PN
