Senatorial candidate Doctor Willie Ong criticized Commission on Elections (COMELEC) for allegedly being too strict among candidates who are only relying on social media and other ways to campaign for free.
In his statement, Ong who’s known as a famous personality on Facebook was wondering why COMELEC is strict with the new ways to campaign like advertising on social media.
He said that COMELEC should focus on regulating the traditional campaign materials used by rich candidates like tarpaulins instead of trying to control the senatoriables who wants to use Facebook to advertise themselves.
Ong who got 9.4M fans on Facebook also slammed COMELEC for saying that surveys on social media are not reliable, unlike the private survey firms like SWS and Pulse Asia.
According to him, the plans of COMELEC might discourage the new senatorial candidates because they cannot afford to campaign like the other politicians who spent billions of pesos.
You can read his whole post below:
“Comelec Press Releases:
Hindi ko talaga maintindihan ang nais ninyo?
Maraming payo ang Comelec sa kandidato ang hindi ko maintindihan talaga. Tulad ng:
1. Bawal daw mag-salita sa mga graduations. Pati ba conventions, meetings at flag ceremony ay bawal din? Eh iyan lang ang LIBRE sa mga bagong kandidato eh?
2. Ang poster dapat maliit lang at limitado din. Eh yan lang ang mura at kaya ng kandidato dahil 25 pesos ang isang poster.
3. Sa Facebook, babantayan daw nila ang sponsored posts. Eh 40 pesos lang ang isang sponsored post.
4. Sa Facebook, babantayan daw ng Comelec ang lahat ng pages ng Influencers at artista. I-Register daw lahat ng FB pages. Wala naman akong Influencer na ginagamit ah. Ako lang.
5. Sabi pa ng Comelec, huwag daw maniwala sa Facebook surveys dahil peke ito at ang nangunguna daw sa FB surveys ay isang “relatively unknown”. Dapat daw ay sa private surveys lang maniwala.
Haay, grabe na talaga? Paano mo naman dadayain ang Facebook computer. Sige nga…
Kawawa talaga ang bagong kandidato sa patakaran ngayon ng Comelec.
Ang tanong ay ISA lang:
Bakit hindi Bantayan ng Comelec ang DAAN-DAANG MILLION na ginagastos sa TV Ads.
At pinag-iinitan pa ang maliliit na ginagawa ng mga bagong kandidato?
Ano LABAN ng isang POSTER sa 100 Million na halaga ng TV Ads. Hindi ba ang GOAL dapat ng Comelec ay maging mas PATAS ang labanan?? Kahit may pera o wala.
Nasa Philippine Constitution na dapat tulungan ng gobyerno ang mga kandidatong kulang sa pera para may tsansa silang mag-silbi sa bayan.
Hindi ko talaga maintindihan po.
Para maayos pa po natin. Para balang araw, may MATINONG bagong kandidato pa ang susubok.
God bless po.
– doc willie ong
Note: Nagtatanong lang po tayo kasi sobra na kami dehado. Ayoko nga sana ipost ito baka lalo pa tayo pag-initan eh.
Pero parang unfair po talaga. Pasensya na.”
Ong vowed to campaign without spending millions of pesos for campaign materials, unlike the other senatorial candidates by using social media to promote himself.
However, COMELEC was suspicious of using social media to campaign saying that they’re going to monitor bloggers and influencers on the internet.
“Number one, we have to look at the overall pattern of activity. It’s not that when you posted something, we will go after you already. We are going to check over time what you have been doing,” COMELEC Spokesperson James Jimenez said.
Jimenez also shared his disbelief on surveys conducted on social media in another statement.
“While it is heartening to see that many people are giving relative unknowns a second look – and even preferring them over more well known politicians, I would caution that surveys conducted on social media are not reliable,” Jimenez said.
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