Tomas supports lifting of airtime limit

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City South District Rep. Tomas R. Osmeña welcomes the Supreme Court order suspending the implementation of the Comelec resolution that imposes airtime limit on campaign advertisements. “That’s one part solved, now I have to find the millions,” said Osmeña who is challenging the reelection bid of Mayor Michael Rama. Osmeña said he received reports that his opponent had spent over P6 million just for the campaign posters and other print advertisements and the amount excludes expenses for several block time radio programs. “Nagbaha g’yud ang mga posters sa akong kontra,” Osmeña said. But Rama, in a separate interview, just laughed at the claim of Osmeña that he already spent P6 million for his political advertisement and campaign posters. “Asa man tawon ta’g P6 million uy? Kana ‘sab nga pag-lift sa Comelec order sa pag-limit sa airtime sa political advertisement, wala nay kapuslanan kay hapit na ang eleksyon,” Rama said. The Bando Osmeña Pundok-Kauswagan (BOPK) also has its own radio programs. The Supreme Court had issued a status quo ante order on the Comelec resolution which imposed limits on the airtime of candidates. The Comelec resolution that was ordered suspended by the High Court only allowed national candidates to have 120 minutes of airtime for television and 180 minutes for radio while the local candidates were allowed 60 minutes of exposure for television and 90 minutes for radio. The resolution is for the benefit of candidates who cannot afford to spend millions of pesos for their airtime in broadcast advertisement.