COMELEC MEMO No.

2017007
Dated: 19 March 2017

TO: Loyola Schools Student Body

FROM: Ateneo Commission on Elections
RE: USAD Complaint vs Andanar, Trillanes and Resolution

Good day,

On 14 March 2017, the Commission received a complaint from the Union of Students for
the Advancement of Democracy (USAD) Ateneo de Manila, an accredited political party,
concerning potential violations of the Electoral Code by independent presidential and vice-
presidential candidates Regis Andanar and Roxy Trillanes, respectively, and the accredited
coalition BUKS. The complaint referenced part of Article III, Section 4 of the Provisionally
Approved Electoral Code of 2016, specifically that:

Candidates for the positions of President and Vice President are prohibited from joining
coalitions.

The complaint then proceeded to evidence that this provision was violated by Andanar
and Trillanes in that their promotional materials made use of the same color scheme, same
design and similar taglines, that on their respective Facebook pages, both candidates use Atin
ang kinabukasan, which is in direct reference to BUKS and is reminiscent of their (BUKSs)
tagline Yakapin ng BUKS para sa bukas, and that the posters of Andanar and Trillanes appear
alongside BUKS-affiliated candidates, among others. In other words, that while Andanar
and Trillanes are not members of BUKS, they are campaigning with them and making it to
look this way to the voting public and are therefore in direct violation of the spirit of Article
III, Section 4 of the Code. The complaint prayed that the Commission open an investigation,
and for other relief, just and equitable, under the premises.

The Commission, after due review of the merits of the complaint, resolved to launch a
formal investigation of the matter on 15 March, as per the Commissions constitutional mandate
to hear and resolve all protests, appeals and complaints pertaining to the conduct of candidacy,
campaign, elections, and to enforce the Electoral Code (as per Article XII, Section 1.2.3 and
1.24 of the 2016 Constitution).

The Commissions investigation consisted of an assessment of Andanar, Trillanes, and

BUKS campaigning and paraphernalia, both online and physical, among others; interviews
with Andanar, Trillanes, and BUKS leadership Christian Dy (founder) and Dasha Uy (SOSS
School Representative Candidate), among others; and consultations with voters.

Throughout the investigation, the Commission set out to find whether (a) the electorate
was being misled with regards to the affiliation of Andanar and Trillanes as a consequence of
campaigning or paraphernalia, (b) adequate steps were being taken by Andanar, Trillanes and
BUKS to clarify Andanar and Trillanes affiliation.

After due deliberation on the results of the investigation, as a result of (a) the almost
identical themes and designs of the paraphernalia of Andanar and Trillanes to the paraphernalia
of BUKS (the only point of differentiation being only (b) the proliferation of the physical
paraphernalia of Andanar and Trillanes near or next to the paraphernalia of BUKS (especially
on the EDSA Walk corkboard, Annex 1), (c) the close association of the slogans used by Andanar
(#AtinAngKinabukasan) and those of BUKS (#YakapinAngBukas), as well as Andanars own
use of BUKS slogans on social media (Annex 2), (d) the closely coordinated social media
campaign of Andanar, Trillanes and BUKS - to wit, the retweeting and re-blasting of each
others campaign tweets and posts by Andanar and Trillanes for BUKS and BUKS
candidates, and vice-versa from BUKS candidates to Andanar and Trillanes, among others, the
Commission has found that there is a high degree of probability that the electorate or at
least a significant portion of the electorate would, upon viewing all of the above cited,
believe that Andanar and Trillanes are part of BUKS.

The Commission also finds that Andanar, Trillanes and BUKS did not take
adequate steps to clarify the relationship between the independent candidates and the
coalition to the benefit of the electorate, given the deep similarities in design and
coordination of campaigns. This is despite, as per the interviews, both the independent
candidates and BUKS attesting to have willingly clarified the formers independent affiliation
when approached and asked by any member of the public or the press. But it is the Commissions
opinion that these clarifications by the independents and BUKS do not satisfy the need for the
matter to be clarified with the rest of the electorate.

To note, it was raised by Andanar, Trillanes and BUKS that the Commission approved
the campaign paraphernalia of Andanar and Trillanes in the latter half of Paraphernalia
Processing Week (6-10 March). The Commission did indeed approve the paraphernalia of
Andanar and Trillanes because (a) the paraphernalia did not explicitly violate any plain text of
any provision of the Code or the 2017 Campaign Manual, (b) the only basis for judgement
during that period was the appearance of the submitted paraphernalia alone; that Andanar,
Trillanes and BUKS would brand in virtually exactly the same manner, coordinate campaigns,
and fail to adequately clarify the matter of Andanar and Trillanes affiliations to the electorate,
among others to the extent that there was a violation of electoral law was not and could not have
been known to the Commission at the time (c) the issue of mere design as a violation of the Code
or Manual is not territory familiar to the Commission, and it would have been irresponsible for
the Commission to have, in effect, issued a lasting legal opinion to delay or revoke the submitted
paraphernalia based on appearance alone. It is with the new information and evidence now
available to the Commission (cited above) with which the Commission makes this decision.

Therefore, the Commission, on 17 March 2017, ruled that the paraphernalia of

Andanar and Trillanes violated the spirit of Article III, Section 4 of the Provisionally
Approved Electoral Code of 2016. It is ordered that Andanar and Trillanes must remove all
of their physical campaign paraphernalia by 20 March 2017 (3PM), and remove the main
profile or display pictures of their social media campaign efforts featuring the same designs and
templates so as to remedy the violation. The candidates need not delete social media posts prior
to this resolution. If this resolution is not complied with, or the Commission not informed that
there are valid reasons for a delay in the removal, further action will be taken by the
Commission. This is not a ban on campaigning, and Andanar and Trillanes may submit new
campaign proposals and put up new paraphernalia satisfactory to the Commission.

Thank you,

With integrity at heart,

(Sgd.) Dom Martin Raises

Chief Commissioner
Commissioner for Human Resources

(Sgd.) Wilbert Jan R. Liao (Sgd.) Ada Nadeen Ablao

Commissioner for Logistics Acting Commissioner for Secretariat

(Sgd.) Frances Nangan (Sgd.) Martin Moreno

Commissioner for Communications Commissioner for Finance
Annex 1
Annex 2