A Palace aide said the President, who is seeking a six-year term in the May elections, would remove the streamers and abide by the Fair Election Act on common poster areas for all candidates.
The campaign period starts Feb. 10 for national candidates.
The colored posters bearing the face of Mrs. Arroyo with the words, "Umasa tao sa bayang asenso," can be seen in various street posts in almost all major roads in Metro Manila.
The Palace official vehemently denied the President is already engaged in campaigning less than a month before the campaign period starts.
He said the Arroyo posters cannot be considered as campaign materials as these were produced as part of the government information drive.
"I don’t know which particular agency handled those advertorials. But I believe these materials are under the logistics group," he said.
He did not say what government program the President was espousing in the said streamer.
He assured that the President and the rest of the administration Koalisyon ng Katatagan at Katapatan para sa Kinabukasan (K-4) national and local bets will observe the Election Code governing the conduct of the campaign, including the placement of campaign materials in designated area.
The poll body has warned political candidates to remove their posters and other campaign materials or face disqualification.
"We will abide by that and of course we would like to enjoin everyone, all the candidates, na respetuhin naman natin iyan at maging maayos at malinis ang ating halalan," he said.
He also called on other political candidates to spare the trees as site of their campaign posters, urging them to follow Comelec’s guidelines on legal common poster areas. (Genalyn D. Kabiling)
Commitment reaffirmed
President Arroyo reaffirmed yesterday her strong commitment to adhere strictly to election laws and regulations set by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) as she shrugged off a petition seeking to disqualify her from the presidential race in the May 10 elections.
The President made the reaffirmation following accusations by the opposition party that the Arroyo administration was behind the orchestrated campaign to discredit Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP) presidential standard bearer Fernando Poe Jr. (FPJ) and his running mate, Sen. Loren Legarda.
"We are committed to a decent and civil campaign and to clean, honest, and orderly polls. We have had enough of dirty politics and elections for the past years and history would tell us that it is one of the setbacks to our economic stability and growth," she said in an official statement.
The opposition camp has earlier accused its political rival for falsifying the birth and other documents related to the citizenship issue of FPJ, copies of which have been published in full-page advertisements appearing in several newspapers purportedly paid by the President’s campaign team.
It also accused the President’s campaign team for practically converting the government machinery into her private campaign organization and thereby, tapping the scarce government resources to advance her presidential ambition when the official campaign period starts on Feb. 10.
The Chief Executive said she hopes that her political opponents would shun "traditional politics and electioneering" which she claimed was responsible for the continued weakening of peso against the US dollars. (Ferdie J. Maglalang)
