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Manila, Philippines – Is the “Team Buhay vs. Team Patay” initiative of the Diocese of Bacolod an election campaign or a social advocacy?
Even if the Reproductive Health (RH) bill was already signed into a law, it appears that the “RH fight” is far from over as far as the Catholic Church is concerned.
At the height of the congressional debates on the RH bill, the Catholic Church made it clear that it will go after or get back at legislators who support the controversial measure.
At the height of the congressional debates on the RH bill, the Catholic Church made it clear that it will go after or get back at legislators who support the controversial measure.
With the Diocese of Bacolod taking the lead, the Catholic Church is now going after the legislators who voted in favor of the RH bill and lumping them as “Team Patay.” It is also pushing up and forward those who voted against the measure and the diocese call them members of the “Team Buhay.”
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is now after the Diocese of Bacolod for alleged violation of the election law, specifically on the size of campaign posters. The Comelec is not faulting the diocese for campaign for and against some candidates for the May 2013 senatorial, party-list and local elections but on the size of the tarpaulin that the diocese used in informing the public about “Team Patay” and “Team Buhay.”
As a reaction to the election law violation charge of the Comelec, the diocese is currently taking the stand that the subject tarpaulin at the San Sebastian Cathedral in Bacolod City is not a campaign but an advocacy material and thus, it is not violating any law.
It appears that the court will have to decide whether the Diocese of Bacolod is campaigning or advocating.
Campaigning and advocating are not opposites. The church can advocate for an issue and use election campaign as the venue for its advocacy initiatives or activities. In fact, the church can be viewed as a stronger advocate if it will openly say that it is campaigning for or against candidates based on their stand on a subject issue.
However, since the right to free speech or expression is not absolute, the church will have to follow the applicable laws. The church should not allow the size of the poster or streamer to hinder its efforts and weaken the strength of its advocacy.
The message is more important than the size of the medium used in delivering it.
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