The Commission on Elections (Comelec) in the Negros Island Region (NIR) said social media accounts and websites of candidates in the May 2025 local and national elections must be registered.
Comelec Resolution 1164, dated Sept. 24, 2024, requires the registration of websites and internet-based platforms primarily used for election campaigning.
The deadline for registration is on Dec. 13.
“Comelec has been making significant efforts to combat misinformation, disinformation, and fake news. It’s a reality that every candidate now uses social media,” lawyer Lionel Marco Castillano, Comelec-NIR election director, said in a Philippine News Agency interview Sept. 24.
The registration requirement applies to candidates, political parties, campaign teams, celebrity endorsers, and media practitioners.
All online accounts used to promote or campaign for or against any candidate must be registered.
Violators will face sanctions, including the removal of their social media accounts or the issuance of a show-cause order, Castillano warned.
Local and overseas voter registration for next year’s midterm elections is only until Monday, Sept. 30.
Meanwhile, Comelec chairman George Erwin Garcia, together with commissioners Rey Bulay and Ernesto Ferdinand Meceda Jr., led the inspection Sept. 24 of the two new HP printing machines delivered by MIRU Systems Co. Ltd., which will be used in the printing of ballots and other accountable forms for the 2025 polls.
Also present at the inspection at the National Printing Office in Quezon City were Comelec senior staff, representatives from MIRU Systems, the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting, Legal Network for Truthful Elections, and members of the media. ||
