EP 12: Campaigning during the COVID-19 pandemic

Because of the raging pandemic, perhaps you would think: those positioning for the 2022 elections might slow down a bit and perhaps try to play more by the rules. 

Well, it’s apparently not the case for the upcoming elections. You still have prospective candidates campaigning early through posters and paid broadcast ads.

Of course, they can always argue — what’s wrong with that? This is a free country!

But you and I know that they’re obviously campaigning introducing themselves to voters at the very least — all because they can and they have the money.

This issue, though, is minimal compared to other much more serious problems that will confront all of us during the campaign.

Remember the troll farms that made a killing in the 2016 elections?

Experts say they only got bigger their operations more seamless sophisticated and vicious. 

Industry insiders say a social media strategy — including troll farms — is now a staple in any election campaign. 

So even if candidates don’t want, in good conscience, to hire their services they may have no other choice.

In 2019, the Commission on Elections tried to monitor campaign expenses online for good reason. But what exactly did it achieve and what lessons can be learned from that moving forward?

In this episode, Christian Esguerra talks to COMELEC's James Jimenez and Election Lawyer George Garcia about the upcoming campaign under conditions made even more complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic.