Volunteers to audit candidates’ campaign expenses – Comelec

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will tap volunteers to audit the statements of contributions and expenditures filed by winning and losing candidates in the May 10 polls, an official reported yesterday.

So far only re-elected Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, losing senatorial bet Rey Langit and losing vice presidential aspirant Perfecto Yasay Jr. and 12 party-list organizations have submitted their statements of expenditure. The deadline for the filing is today.

Lawyer Ferdinand Rafanan, director of the Comelec Law Department, said the agency does not have the capability and manpower to audit the statements so they have to seek the help of volunteers to effectively identify violators.

Rafanan admitted that in previous polls, the Comelec was not able to evaluate the accuracy of the candidates’ statements owing to their lack of auditors and accountants.

He claimed that the agency’s concern then was only if the candidates have filed their statements or if they filed them on time.

“Maybe it was the sheer volume or there was no initiative to do it. Whatever they submit, we take it as it is. That’s all,” he noted.

Under the Fair Elections Act, candidates for president and vice president with political parties are allowed to spend P10 per voter while other candidates with political parties can spend P3 for every voter.

Candidates without any political party could earmark P5 for every voter.

Political parties and party-list groups, on the other hand, could spend P5 for every voter in the constituencies where they have official candidates.

Such expenses “shall include those incurred or caused to be incurred by the candidate, whether in cash or in kind, including the use, rental or hire of land, water or aircraft, equipment, facilities, apparatus and paraphernalia used in the campaign.”

There are 50,850,9339 registered voters, which means that those who ran for president and vice president were allowed to spend only P508 million.

Those who violate this face a fine of P1,000 to P30,000 for the first offense and a fine of P2,000 to P50,000 plus lifetime disqualification from public office for the second offense.

Rafanan said the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism and the electoral reform group Pera at Pulitika have already volunteered to assist in auditing the statements. –Sheila Crisostomo (The Philippine Star)