This is one of the untold stories during my adventure run from Manila to Baguio City on the 2nd week of this month.

Once I entered the Province of Tarlac, I have observed that the whole province turned to yellow color. All the campaign banners, posters, and tarpaulins displayed along the highway are all colored yellow. Almost all the electric posts, trees and walls lined up along the highway are all filled with campaign posters. I am not sure if the campaign leaders & representatives of the national candidates for the provinces know the provisions of the COMELEC Election Laws.

I found out that a former Congressman in the early 2000 is running for a Senatorial seat in this year’s national election through the posters I saw along the highway. This Congressman was one of those who investigated me and other senior officers of the AFP in a Congressional Inquiry & Investigation about a military operation in Southern Mindanao that went wrong due to the “meddling” of armchair Generals at the General Headquarters. Being the operational commander in the area, my orders to my men were “countermanded” by the Generals sitting their asses in the comfort of their air-con offices in Manila. To make the story short, this Congressman prevented me from reading my prepared statement during the hearing and the said hearing brought embarassment to the whole military establishment due to the Congressman’s “grandstanding” antics infront of the TV camera!

When I saw the face of this Congressman on his campaign posters, it broughk back “bad” memories of the Congressional Inquiry & Investigation. At an instant, I started pulling and removing his campaign posters displayed on the trees and electric posts along the way! As if nothing happened whenever I pass by his campaign posters as I did not stop or slowed down my regular pace while grabbing and pulling his campaign posters. You could just imagine how many posters of this Senatorial candidate I was able to remove from the Province of Tarlac to Baguio City.

Whether my act of removing/pulling his campaign posters was good or bad, I think, I was able to get even with this politician. In the first place, the display of his campaign posters other than the authorized election/campaign poster areas is a violation of the COMELEC’s Election Laws provision. How I wish COMELEC could “deputize” me and other runners to remove those campaign posters displayed in violation of the COMELEC’s Election Laws. That would be an exciting job!