More importantly, the conduct of a motorcade is a form of election campaign
or partisan political activity, falling squarely within the ambit of Section 79(b)(2)
of the Omnibus Election Code, on [h]olding political caucuses, conferences,
meetings, rallies, parades, or other similar assemblies, for the purpose of soliciting
votes and/or undertaking any campaign or propaganda for or against a
candidate[.] A motorcade is a procession or parade of automobiles or other motor
vehicles.[31] The conduct thereof during election periods by the candidates and their
supporters is a fact that need not be belabored due to its widespread and pervasive
practice. The obvious purpose of the conduct of motorcades is to introduce the
candidates and the positions, to which they seek to be elected, to the voting public;
or to make them more visible so as to facilitate the recognition and recollection of
their names in the minds of the voters come election time. Unmistakably,
motorcades are undertaken for no other purpose than to promote the election of a
particular candidate or candidates.
In the instant Petition, Penera never denied that she took part in the conduct
of the motorcade after she filed her COC on the day before the start of the
campaign period.She merely claimed that the same was not undertaken for
campaign purposes. Penera proffered the excuse that the motorcade was already
part of the dispersal of the supporters who spontaneously accompanied Penera and
her partymates in filing their COCs. The said supporters were already being
transported back to their respective barangays after the COC filing. Penera
stressed that no speech was made by any person, and there was only background
marching music and a grand standing for the purpose of raising the hands of the
candidates in the motorcade.
We are not convinced.