Nine losing bets fail to submit expenses report

NINE losing candidates in the province failed to submit their Statements of Election Contributions and Expenditures (SOCEs) on last Wednesday’s deadline.

Based on the list of the provincial Commission on Elections (Comelec), 62 of the 71 candidates for governor, vice governor, Provincial Board (PB) members and congressional district representatives submitted their SOCEs before the 5 p.m. deadline.

Comelec provincial election supervisor Eliseo Labaria said those who were unable to submit their SOCEs will have to go directly to the Comelec’s Campaign Finance Department (CFD) in Manila.

“It’s their problem now. In our level, we won’t accept SOCEs anymore,” he told reporters yesterday.

Gubernatorial candidates Roliveth “Klasmit Boyet” Cortes and Desiderio Estinozo were among those who failed to submit their SOCEs.

Provincial Board candidates Alberto Patalinghug (1st district), Bernardo Desabelle (3rd district), Boyet Bantilan (4th district), Edgar Maestrado (5th district) and Victor Maambong (6th district) also failed to submit their SOCEs.

For the candidates for district representatives, Michael Nuñez of the first district and Gilbert Wagas who substituted Virginia Velasco in the fifth district also failed to submit their SOCEs.

“Administrative fines for those who failed to submit their SOCEs range from P10,000 to P60,000 depending on the position they ran for,” Labaria said.

During the last day of the filing, Labaria said they had to work until 8 p.m. since they accommodated those who arrived before the 5 p.m. deadline.