The Department of the Interior and Local Government recently urged the public to report politicians who violate anti-epal rules, with the warning that repeat offenders could face administrative and even criminal charges.
“If politicians commit violations, we call on the people to take photos, post them on Facebook, and we can investigate,” Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said at a press briefing.
Passing the buck to the Filipino people as usual, he said that the anti-epal campaign does not depend on them, but on the people who have to report so they can act.
Under the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA), elective officials, candidates, politicians, political parties and their representatives are barred from influencing or participating in the actual distribution of government assistance, except officials with direct administrative authority over the implementing agency.
The law also prohibits the display of names, images, mottos, color motifs, initials, or any symbol associated with any public official on signboards, billboards, and other signages of government programs, projects, and properties.
Citing Commission on Audit guidelines, Remulla said project signages should only include essential details such as the project title, start date, contractor, and target completion date.
He warned that politicians who repeatedly violate the prohibitions may be sanctioned.
“We can file administrative cases against them,” he said. “If the local chief executive’s attitude is recidivist, we can refer it to the ombudsman for administrative and criminal cases.”
The public may use the Sumbong sa Pangulo portal to report any epal or credit grabbing politicians.
Epal politicians, by definition, shouldn’t be hard to find, since they take credit for everything and plaster their names, slogans, and colors all over. Why does the DILG need the public to report them, instead of just starting a serious crackdown?
However, since the DILG apparently cannot act on its own against epal politicos, we can only hope that the public will cooperate and report their epal public officials, and hopefully government acts on it so this horrendous practice can finally be ended.*
