The situation at the Cebu City Comelec office at around 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 8, 2022.
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Out of the 60 candidates in Cebu City, at least 53 have submitted their Statement of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCE) as of 7 pm on June 8, 2022.
Marilou Paredes, the North District election officer, said they had to extend the filing beyond 5 p.m. this evening because many candidates or their representatives have arrived at 5 p.m. to beat the deadline.
“Niextend nalang ta because daghan pa man niapas. Naa naman gyod sila diri,” said Paredes.
At 5 p.m., candidates or their representatives flocked the Comelec District Offices to file their SOCEs and beat the deadline.
In the South District office, 20 out of 22 councilorial candidates filed their SOCEs. At 5 p.m., the election assistant was still processing the three last SOCEs for the day.
The remaining two candidates were not able to complete the requirements delaying the filing.
Losing councilorial candidates, Pie Abella, Gremar Barete, Roberto Cabarrubias, Cornelio Jaca, Omar Kintanar, Ramonito Alcoseba, Simuel Panilagao, Harry Eran, and Bea Osmeña were able to file their SOCEs.
Losing congressional candidate for the South District, Rodrigo Bebot Abellanosa has also filed his SOCE.
Winning candidates James Cuenco, Jocelyn Pesquera, Renato Osmeña, Jr., Rey Gealon, Francis Esparis, Jose Abellanosa, Philip Zafra, and Donaldo Hontiveros secured their seats by successfully filing their SOCEs.
In the North District office, the team of Vice Mayor-elect Raymond Garcia just beat the deadline and were catered at exactly 5 p.m.
Losing mayoral candidate, Crisostomo Saavedra, was waiting to process his SOCE. He said he had to organize the softcopy of his SOCE, which caused the delay.
Losing councilorial candidate, Arturo Barrit of the Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK), was among the last few to file their SOCEs.
“There were family matters I attended to and then nasakit pud ko. Pero I am here to personally file my SOCE because mas maayo nga ako gyod ang mofile instead of a representative,” Barrit told CDN Digital.
The last candidate to file his SOCE is independent vice mayoral candidate, Francisco Fernandez, through his team of representatives.
In the North District, 33 out of 38 candidates were able to submit their SOCEs including the winning candidates, Mayor Michael Rama, Vice Mayor-elect Raymond Garcia, South District Congressman-elect Eduardo Rama, Jr., and North District Congressman-elect Rachel “Cutie” Del Mar.
Winning north councilorial candidates has also filed their SOCEs including Councilors-elect Nestor Archival, Jerry Guardo, Joel Garganera, Mary Ann Delos Santos, Joy Augustus Young, Jaypee Labella, Noel Wenceslao, and Pastor Jun Alcover.
After today, the candidates will incur a penalty for submitting late. They will also need to submit their SOCEs to the central Commission on Election (Comelec) office in Manila.
Winning candidates who cannot file their SOCEs will not be able to sit in office.
“Wala na tay extensions, or at least so far wala tay nadawat nga advice for an extension,” said Paredes.
The North District Office extended over an hour to process the remaining SOCEs.
The election officers in Cebu City have not yet allowed the media to peruse the SOCEs of the Cebu City candidates asking for time to organize the documents for the end of the filing day. /rcg
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