MANILA - You cannot campaign for your candidate on election day, no matter how badly you want them to win, unless you want to commit an election offense.

"Election campaigning" or "partisan political activity" is declared unlawful by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) on the day of elections, May 9.

Additionally, campaigning is also prohibited for any person and any political party on Maundy Thursday, April 14, Good Friday, April 15, and the even of election day, May 8.

COMELEC defines "election campaign" and "partisan political activity" as the following:

• Forming organization or other groups of persons to solicit votes and / or undertake campaign for or against a candidate
• Creating social media platforms to conduct campaigns or related partisan political activity
• Holding political caucuses, conferences, meetings, rallies, parades, or other assemblies to solicit votes or campaign for or against a candidate
• Make speeches, announcements, commentaries, or holding interviews for or against the election of any candidate
• Publishing displaying or distributing campaign literature or materials designed to support or oppose the election of any candidate
• Directly or indirectly soliciting votes, pledges of support, for or against any candidate

However, no section prohibits wearing specific colors on election day.

Spokesperson to Vice President Leni Robredo Atty. Barry Gutierrez reminded this in a tweet on Tuesday, in reply to a now-deleted post suggesting that "the COMELEC [will] disqualify those who are wearing pink" on May 9.

For the record: This did not come from the campaign legal team. Wearing pink (or any color) to go vote is not prohibited, and while the possibility of harassment exists, should that prevent us from asserting our rights? To vote AND to wear the color we choose when we do so.

— Barry Gutierrez (@barrygutierrez3) March 15, 2022

Pink is Robredo's campaign color, with her supporters dubbing themselves "kakamPINKs."

Her running-mate Senator Kiko Pangilinan chose to associate himself with green, similar to his opponent for the vice presidency, former Davao Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.

Bongbong Marcos Jr., current frontrunner and Robredo's rival, associated himself with red, echoing his father former dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr.'s visual link to the color.

Ka Leody De Guzman's campaigns are also predominantly red, while Senators Manny Pacuiao and Ping Lacson use blue and red.

Manila Mayor Isko Moreno's campaign events are often colored blue and white.

While voters can wear whatever color they like on election day, they cannot however, make use of any other means to identify their vote, according to Article 17 Section 195 of the Omnibus Election Code.

This includes making copies of the contents of their ballots, which means: no selfies or photos with your filled out ballots.

Only a maximum of 20 voters at a time can enter the polling places to wait for their turn while others ahead of them cast their votes.

Mingling and interaction between voters and election inspectors is also illegal.

Voting is on a "first come-first served" basis; you vote in the order of your entrance into the polling place.

Be careful when filling out your ballot: voters can only change their ballots twice after spoiling them.

After filling out the ballot, voters must remember to fold their ballot in the same way they received it before returning it to the chairman of the board of election inspectors.

The chairman cannot unfold or see the contents of any ballot submitted to them.

After imprinting their thumbmark beside their signature in the voting record, voters will be applied with indelible ink on their right forefinger nail, and can then depart from the polling place.

Despite the Alert Level easing in most areas of the country, voters must still wear masks when casting their vote, and maintain at least 1 meter physical distancing when voting while practicing other minimum public health standards such as frequent disinfecting of hands and proper cough and sneezing etiquette.