Authorities are urging the public to watch out for, and report, people with signal jammers that could be used to disrupt the May 13 elections.
Commission on Elections chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. said using signal jammers on election day is punishable by at least eight years in prison.
“If you are holding or possessing a signal jammer on Election Day and you are within the vicinity or in the area of the polling places, then that would be a strong evidence that you are interfering with the transmission of results and therefore you become criminally liable of an election offense,” Brillantes said in a Sun Star Online report. He said the Comelec has contingencies in case the signals at polling centers are jammed.
Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II, at the same press conference, brought out samples of signal jammers. He said a member of his staff was able to buy four jammers for P30,000. “The signal jammers are easy to use and some are battery operated,” he said.
It is illegal to buy, sell, own, and use signal jammers in the Philippines.
