Can an elected official sit in post sans SOCE?
WHILE the elected officials at the Cebu Capitol have submitted their Statement of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCEs), not all elected officials of the different towns in the province have complied with this Commission on Elections (Comelec) requirement.
Thus, the Comelec Provincial Office is passing the ball to the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to ensure that all elected officials who will take their oath of office on June 30 have been issued an initial Certificate of Compliance by the Comelec, which is part of the requirements of DILG before an elected official can assume his post.
Comelec has entered into an agreement with the DILG to require winning candidates to submit their SOCE, so they can be issued with an initial Certificate of Compliance.
Without the initial Certificate of Compliance from the Comelec, it will be the DILG which would decide whether the elected official can assume his position, said lawyer Lionel Marco Castillano, Cebu Provincial Election Supervisor.
He, however, warned candidates who fail to submit their SOCE will be charged with an administrative fine for as much as P30,000 depending on the position they ran for.
The Comelec in the province will still accept SOCEs from losing candidates, the most recent of which is that of Victor Maambong, who ran for Provincial Board Member for the sixth district.
Castillano, however, said he has not received any copy of the Comelec Resolution extending the deadline for the submission of SOCEs by candidates in the recent May 9 polls. The SOCEs will be forewarded to the Campaign Finance Office in Manila.
Castillano admitted that the filing of SOCEs is now very tedious because the Campaign Finance Office will really audit the expenses incurred and contributions received by the candidates.
They have even required candidates to submit scanned copies of receipts of expenses.
“Before it was not looked through if it’s true. This time there will be an audit of the SOCE you have filed,” he said.
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