Comelec to hold dialogue on campaign spending

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will hold a dialogue with local political parties to address overspending during the campaign period.

Provincial Comelec supervisor Lionel Marco Castillano said their Campaign Finance Unit (CFU) will come to the province next month to discuss with political parties the Statement of Election Contributions and Expenditures (SECE) among others.

“Comelec wants to get input from the parties and make them understand how to file the SECE. The commission saw that the candidates lacked attachments before,” he told reporters yesterday.

The SECE is an itemized statement of all contributions and expenditures, including the full names and addresses of the donors and payees, and dates of receipt of donations or payment of money, respectively.

When Comelec implemented the filing of the SECE, only election officers were informed through a one-day seminar, Castillano said.
Subpoena

He said not more than five candidates overspent in the 2010 and 2013 elections.

“I think one or two. Even five is too many already,” he said. Castillano said he is uncertain whether their office retained copies of these candidates’ SECEs.

He said it is the Comelec CFU who sent these candidates a subpoena for them to file counter-affidavits. Copies of the SECE are public documents and are available upon request.

All candidates are required to file the SECE with the Comelec office where they filed their certificate of candidacy.

“Provincial and congressional candidates file their statements here,” said Castillano, referring to the Comelec’s provincial office at the Capitol.
Jurisdiction

Castillano said these candidates justified their overspending by saying that they misdeclared some expenditures.

“In their case, they included what the party gave them in their statements, giving the impression that they ‘overspent,’” he said.

Under the Omnibus Election Code, political  parties and independent candidates are only allowed to spend P5 per voter in their area while individual candidates under a party are only allowed to spend P3 for every voter in their jurisdiction.

“For example, a candidate who will run for mayor in an area with 10,000 voters is only allowed to spend P30,000 for the campaign,” said Castillano.

This does not put into account what the candidate’s political party may still spend on the same campaign.
Modify

Castillano said overspending is an election offense and candidates found guilty of it may be sentenced to one to six years of imprisonment.

Overspending candidates may face disqualification while those that didn’t win may be barred from the next elections, should they still choose to run again.