Poll spending reports: Most candidates lied

MANILA, Philippines – Most national and local candidates lied in their statements of contribution and expenditures and actually spent more than what is allowed by law in the May 2010 polls.

James Jimenez, Commission on Elections (Comelec) spokesman, said “it was very obvious that most of the candidates spent more than what they have stated in their statements of contribution and expenditures.”

“Look at it this way. Compare what you have seen with your own eyes and what is on the paper they have submitted. What I do see is it seems to me that their expenditures are likely to be much higher than reported,” Jimenez said.

He stressed that the Comelec would validate later all the statements of contributions and expenditures submitted by the candidates and might coordinate with monitoring entities such as the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Commission on Audit.

“Once all of the submissions are in, we will take steps to communicate with them to ask for their help in validating whatever results we have,” he said.

Jimenez, however, stressed that the statement submitted to the Comelec would be used as basis, while the findings of other entities would be used only for cross-checking the statement of contributions by candidates.

Under the law, all national and local candidates who participated in the May 2010 elections are required to submit their statements of contribution and expenditures by June 24.

Those who fail to comply with the requirement will be fined while the winning candidates will not be able to assume their post until they have submitted the statement, the law states.

Jimenez said most winners in the last elections have already submitted their statements.

He said the major concern of the Comelec now is to determine whether the statements “are reasonable or truthful.”

“Essentially, the evidence is what we have seen with our own eyes. What you saw during the campaign period should more or less square with the submission on paper. That is really the main concern here,” he pointed out.

Charges of perjury can be filed against those who lied in their statements.

But Jimenez admitted that the existing law regulating election expenses is already outdated and needs amendments.

“I think the spending cap is already outdated. Where can you see reasonable spending of P10 per candidate. This is an example of the gap in our rules which predisposes people to break it,” he said.

“Campaigning these days has become very expensive so we have to amend it. Otherwise, the law itself will encourage people to violate it because it is no longer reasonable,” Jimenez said.  –Mayen Jaymalin (The Philippine Star)