The Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) candidates are free to campaign on their social media sites, according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

“Wala tayong social media regulation sa Pilipinas sapagkat may issue na constitutionality dahil sinasabing violatrion daw po ito sa freedom of expression eh ang social media po ay pagpapahayag ng damdamin ng isang tao,” Comelec Chairman Atty. George Garcia told DZRH in an interview.

“Kahit ang Comelec napakaluwag po sa issue sa social media sapagkat wala po tayong kapangyarihan na i-regulate ang social media therefore as of this time gray area pa po yan,” he added.

Garcia said they could only regulate within the bounds of social media when the public reported the expenditures of BSK bets regarding their use of “boosting strategies” on their posts.

According to Facebook, boosted posts are ads that can reach a broad number of people. Users can boost their posts by choosing the recommended audience and providing a custom budget and payment method.

“Ang paraan lang para i-regulate ng Comelec ang social media ay kinakailangan mai-report sa amin yung mga expenditure na ginagamit lalo pa kung ito ay na-boost yung mismong account niya [...] Kailangan mai-report po sa Comelec yung boosting na yun sapagkat nagbabayad po yan,” Garcia added.

Two days following the start of the campaign period, the Comelec chief said they already flagged 341 candidates and issued them a show-cause order for illegal campaigning, 200 have received formal disqualification cases while 10 were filed for vote buying.

The official election day for barangay, Sangguniang Kabataan is scheduled for Oct. 30.