The television commercials featuring Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla are an egregious example of premature campaigning and should be stopped. It’s bad enough that some political aspirants are now also running TV ads ahead of the campaign period, but at least those were privately funded. Not so in the case of Sec. Petilla, whose P150-million TV ad campaign is most likely financed by taxpayers’ money.

As some critics point out, Sec. Petilla’s ads are meant to bolster his candidacy in 2016. In April, he was quoted as saying in reports that he would run for either the House or the Senate. In preparation for that, he submitted his resignation before the Holy Week. Actually, the secretary tried to resign in December 2013, after failing to deliver on his promise to restore power to all the areas affected by Typhoon Yolanda. President Aquino did not accept the resignation then, and recently, Palace officials announced that the secretary would remain in office until a replacement was found.