The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is considering declaring election periods as “safe spaces” and prohibiting discrimination among candidates and their supporters.
On Monday evening, April 7, Garcia told ANC that he plans to recommend the policy en banc on Tuesday, April 8. With the safe space declaration, Garcia aims to ban mudslinging and negative campaigning that may lead to more discriminatory acts.
“When you say ‘safe space,’ naka-define naman ‘yan sa ating batas,” Garcia said. “Dapat ang mga lugar na ‘yan, ang mga platform na ‘yan ay hindi ginagamit sa pagdi-discriminate at pag-abuso.”
This follows three recent cases of local candidates making discriminatory remarks against female constituents and candidates.
On March 29, Mataas na Kahoy Vice Mayor Jay Ilagan — not to be confused with the deceased actor — called his election rival Vilma Santos “laos,” or a has-been actress. Ilagan and Santos are both vying for the gubernatorial position in Batangas, which Santos held from 2007 to 2016.
In a campaign sortie on Wednesday, April 2, Pasig City congressional candidate Attorney Christian “Ian” Sia jokingly proposed that single mothers sleep with him, earning the ire of women’s rights advocates and netizens. He apologized for the misogynistic joke but accused re-electionist Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto of turning the matter into a national issue.
On Thursday, April 3, re-electionist Misamis Oriental Governor Peter Unabia said that his nursing scholarship program is exclusive to good-looking women as ugly women will just worsen a patient’s condition.
Comelec issued show-cause orders for all three candidates, demanding that they explain their remarks.
“We should be man and woman enough to accept responsibility sa mga sinasabi po natin, sapagkat ang entablado ay hindi ginagamit sa pambabastos ng iba,” said Garcia.
Discrimination or harassment based on gender and HIV status, or against persons with disability counts as an election offense punishable with disqualification, according to a Comelec resolution promulgated on February 2025.
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