Losing presidential candidate Manuel “Mar” Roxas II failed yet again to submit his Statement of Contribution and Expenditures after his political party, the Liberal Party, filed its campaign expenses six days beyond the deadline.
Based on its SOCE lodged at the Commission on Elections—Campaign Finance Office (CFO), the LP declared contributions and expenditures amounting to P241,097,372.73.
For its contributions, the LP said it got a total of P181,080,000.00 cash contributions from non-members and P60,017,372,73 cash donations from party members.
On the other hand, their cash expenditures amounting to P60,017,372,73 were sourced from the party funds, while the P181,080,000.00 cash expenses came from their non-member supporters.
The SOCE was submitted to the Comelec—CFO despite the provision of Comelec Resolution No. 9991 stating that submissions beyond the June 8 deadline “shall not be accepted.”
But according to the CFO, they will only accept the SOCE of LP as part of their “ministerial” duty but should be deemed as already being validly filed to the Comelec.
LP’s SOCE was also filed even as the commission en banc remains undecided on the request of Roxas and the party for an extension of the June 8 deadline.
In separate interviews, Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista and Commissioners Luie Guia and Rowena Guanzon all related that the commission en banc has yet to deliberate on the matter.
“We are still waiting for CFO [recommendation],” Bautista said.
Comelec commissioner Rowena Guanzon said that they have to wait for the decision of the Steering Committe chief Commissioner Christian Robert Lim.
“It’s a pending matter in the en banc. We have to wait for Commissioner Christian Lim… He has already sent a memorandum endorsing the application without a recommendation,” Guanzon said.
Comelec commissioner Luie Guia expressed cynicism stressing that the poll body is deemed to follow what the law mandated them to do.
“We still have to discuss it… [but] we always follow the law. It’s not only an inclination, we cannot not follow the law,” Guia said.
Lim, who heads the Comelec – CFO, has been on leave for two straight en banc meetings, which is a weekly activity by the poll body.
Last week, Roxas and the LP sent a letter to the Comelec requesting for an additional 14 days to complete the filing of their SOCEs.
