ILOILO City – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) Region 6 is reminding the nearly 150,000 candidates from the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections in Western Visayas to submit their “full, true, and itemized” Statements of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCEs) as soon as possible.
There is less than two weeks remaining until the Nov. 29 deadline.
The Comelec reminder aims to avoid the rush at city or municipal elections offices on the deadline day and, in case there are corrections or modifications needed in the SOCE form, to ensure there is enough time to address these issues.
“Do not wait until Nov. 29 or the last day. If there are any omissions or errors, it might be too late to modify them,” said Comelec-6 director Dennis Ausan in an interview with Panay News.
Every candidate, whether victorious or defeated, must submit their SOCE within 30 days after the October 30 election.
Ausan said many in the region have already filed their SOCEs, particularly the winning candidates, as this is one of the requirements for assuming office.
“No person elected to any public office shall enter upon the duties of his office until he has filed the statement of contributions and expenditures herein required,” read part of Section 14 of Republic Act 7166 (the law setting synchronized national and local elections and for electoral reforms).
The Act further states: “Except for candidates for elective barangay office, failure to file the statements or reports in connection with electoral contributions and expenditures as required herein shall constitute an administrative offense for which the offenders shall be liable to pay an administrative fine ranging from P1,000 to P30,000, at the discretion of the Commission.”
The fine shall be paid within 30 days from receipt of notice of such failure; otherwise, it shall be enforceable by a writ of execution issued by the Commission against the properties of the offender.
A second and subsequent failure to file a SOCE would entail an administrative fine from P2,000 to P60,000, at the discretion of the Commission. In addition, the offender shall be subject to perpetual disqualification to hold public office.
The Campaign Finance Office of Comelec’s central office will check the SOCE forms of all candidates to determine any overspending.
Under Comelec rules, barangay and SK candidates were allowed to spend P5 per registered voter.
If violations are found, the Comelec law department may file for disqualification or imprisonment.
In Western Visayas, there were 148,005 BSKE candidates, with the following breakdown:
* Aklan – 11,613
* Antique – 20,789
* Capiz – 16,957
* Guimaras – 3,601
* Iloilo – 65,405
* Negros Occidental – 29,640/PN
