Political advertisements of candidates in public utility buses (PUBs) are still allowed.

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer clarified this last Tuesday as he said that the Fair Elections Act does not specifically bar the use of advertisements in buses.

“There’s nothing in our laws that prescribes the particular sizes that should be allowed. We will have to discuss that because we are still talking about private properties,” he said.

“If a private individual wants to make use of his private property the way he wants to, provided it’s not contrary to law that should be allowed,” added Ferrer.

Since there is no rule yet against such ads, he said, the Comelec will have to make specific rules with regards to dealing with non-traditional campaign materials.

“We will have to balance that out with the Fair Elections Act… we will balance the pros and cons before we come up with a definite set of guidelines,” Ferrer said.

Earlier, the Comelec received letters regarding the putting up of images of candidates on buses, one of which came from the Lakas-Kampi-CMD.

But the poll official urged the said party to write them a petition instead so they can rule on it.

“The reason why we come up with the suggestion that it should be in a form of petition is because of these letters were sent to us. If we rule on the request embodied in the letters, it should apply to everybody similarly situated,” said Ferrer.