EDITORIAL - Ensure enforcementAs part of continuing efforts to stop epal or self-promoting credit-grabbing by politicians at taxpayers’ expense, the Department of the Interior and Local Government has ordered its offices nationwide and local government units to remove the names, images and likenesses of public officials from all state-funded projects. Remulla should include a prohibition on the display of greetings by politicians in public spaces, unless in registered advertising spots. Public spaces nationwide are littered with streamers and billboards of politicians, greeting the public for every imaginable occasion including fiestas and graduations. Politicians’ billboards and streamers bearing Christmas greetings have not yet been taken down, even in Metro Manila. Aside from the DILG circular, Remulla stressed that the prohibition on politicians’ self-promoting materials is in the 2026 General Appropriations Act.

Source: Philippine Star January 31, 2026 16:39 UTC