THE Commission on Elections should expect future elections to be marred by requests for extensions from candidates and political parties after it extended the period for filing Statements of Contributions and Expenditures by candidates, a former Comelec chairman said Sunday.
Sixto Brilliantes said the Comelec set a bad precedent with its decision.
“Now, who is going to believe in the deadline that the Comelec will set in the next elections? Nobody. They will just think they can ask for an extension,” Brillantes said.
He said those who would request an extension would cite the case of the Liberal Party and its presidential candidate, Manuel Roxas II, to justify their appeal.
“They will simply use the reasoning that the Comelec granted the request of the LP in 2016. Why not us?” Brillantes said.
On Thursday, the Comelec voted 4-3 to move the June 8 deadline for filing SOCEs to June 30 after the LP and Roxas asked for an additional 14 days to do so.
Comelec spokesman James Jimenez noted it was not the first time that the poll body had extended the deadline for SOCE filing.
He said the Comelec also extended the deadline for filing SOCEs in the 2013 elections, which was then under Brilliants, from June 12, 2013, to May 12, 2014, and to June 30, 2014.
Section 14 of Republic Act 7166 says all candidates and political parties must file their respective SOCEs 30 days after election day.
But Brillantes said the difference was the provision of penalties for late filing in the 2013 elections.
“In their decision now, they did not impose any penalties to late filers. It’s like they are forgiving the late filers altogether,” Brillantes said.