By Ferdinand Patinio/Philippine News Agency
MANILA — Some winning and losing national candidates in the May 13 midterm polls have already filed their Statements of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCEs) before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on the last day of the month-long filing period on Thursday.
Initial data from the poll body’s Campaign Finance Office (CFO) revealed that five out of the 12 newly-elected senators have so far submitted their respective SOCEs before and on the day of the deadline.
Senator Cynthia Villar and Nancy Binay filed their SOCEs last June while Cayetano submitted her SOCE on June 5.
Meanwhile, Senator Grace Poe and former presidential aide Christopher “Bong” Go have filed their SOCEs on June 13.
Based on the documents submitted, Villar, who topped the senatorial race (25,256,661 votes) has spent a total of PHP135,529,061 in the last polls using personal funds with no contributions received. Binay, who is in 12th place (14,496,350 votes) overall in the May polls has received a total of PHP59,470,000 for her campaign and has spent PHP56,785,472,82.
Fourth placer (19,762,584 votes) Cayetano has received a total of Php75,200,000 in cash and in kind contributions and has spent PHP73,714,198 in the campaign, while Go, former Special Assistant to the President (3rd place with 20,622,925 votes), has received a total of PHP162,035,537 cash and in-kind contributions to his campaign kitty while his total expenditures is at P161,418,299.
On the other hand, the second placer Poe (22,011,745 votes) has received total contributions, in cash and in kind, amounting to PHP156,450,000 with total expenditures incurred of PHP156,433,463.
Meanwhile, 15 other losing senatorial bets have also submitted the required documents ahead of the deadline which include Mar Roxas, Romulo Macalintal, Dr. Willie Ong, Chel Diokno, Florin Hilbay, and Gary Alejano.
A total of 63 senatorial bets participated in last month’s polls including former Malacanang spokesperson Harry Roque, who withdrew his candidacy during the campaign period.
As for party-list groups, a total of 56 groups have already filed the said documents including ACT-CIS, which is the topnotcher in the last polls.
Among the other organizations that were able to submit their SOCEs were: Senior Citizens, Magdalo, ACT Teachers, Ang Probinsyano, 1PACMAN, PBA, LPGMA, SBP, TUCP, Bayan Muna, and Gabriela.
A total of 134 party-list groups have participated in the May 13 elections.
Aside from the candidates in the national positions, political parties are also required to submit the said documents. Out of the 18 political parties, the PDP-Laban, Lakas-CMD, Nacionalista Party, and Liberal Party have so far submitted their SOCEs.
With this, CFO acting head lawyers Efraim Bag-id noted that they expect candidates to file SOCEs on the last day of the filing period.
Section 14 of Republic Act No. 7166 requires every candidate and political party shall within 30 days after the Election Day, to file with the Commission the full, true, and itemized SOCEs.
Earlier, the poll body said that the deadline is final and non-extendible to those who did not win in the last polls.
As for winning candidates, they are allowed within six months to file their SOCEs but they will be charged with administrative fines with amount depending on the posts.
National political parties, party-list organizations, and senators will have to pay PHP10,000, instead of the previous amount of PHP30,000.
For provincial political parties, they would be charged PHP8,500 (from PHP22,500); while provincial governors and vice governors have to pay PHP8,000 (from PHP25,000).
An amount of PHP7,000 will also have to be paid by provincial board members, congressmen, local political parties, mayors, and vice mayors (from PHP20,000); while councilors will need to pay PHP6,000 (from PHP15,000).
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