Comelec exec threatens to quit
THE HEAD of the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) campaign finance office (CFO) will tender his resignation on Monday.
“The policy shift is not acceptable,” CFO head Commissioner Christian Robert Lim said in a text message. He did not elaborate.
Lim’s decision came a day after the commission en banc decided to grant the request of the Liberal Party and its standard bearer, Mar Roxas, to extend the deadline for the submission of statement of contributions and expenditures (SOCE) for the May 2016 polls.
The CFO is the office in charge of receiving and evaluating the SOCEs of all the candidates.
The commission en banc on Thursday voted 4-3 in favor of extending the deadline to submit SOCEs until June 30, disregarding Lim’s recommendation and vote to deny the LP and Roxas’ request.
Prior to last Thursday’s special en banc meeting, other poll officials refused to comment on the LP and Roxas’ request, saying the matter should be addressed to Lim, being the CFO head.
Lim was not present during the last three en banc meetings, including last Thursday’s. But on Wednesday, he recommended through a memorandum to reject the LP and Roxas’ request.
According to Lim, Republic Act No. 7166 clearly states that submission of SOCE should be made within 30 days after the elections.
“To grant the request for extension would not only be unfair to other candidates and parties who complied within the prescribed period but also would be a reversal of the commission’s own resolution on the matter,” he said.
Lim said the 30-day period from Election Day is “a hard deadline” set by law in Section 14 of RA 7166.
“The ‘final and nonextendible’ nature of the June 8, 2016, deadline has been emphasized in the second paragraph of Section 2, Rule 10 of the Omnibus Rules on Campaign Finance,” Lim said.
He also noted that all presidential and vice presidential candidates, with the exception of Roxas, were able to file their SOCEs on time regardless of the voluminous nature of the report.
“It is worthy to note that even presidential candidate Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago was able to comply with the submission of her SOCE through her representative on June 8 despite being on medical leave and her confinement in the Intensive Care Unit of the Makati Medical Center a few days before the deadline,” said Lim.
Apart from Lim, Comelec Chair Andres Bautista and Commissioner Luie Guia also voted against the extension.
Bautista voted against the extension but he would allow late filing with the imposition of the necessary fines and penalties.
The commissioners who voted in favor of the extension of SOCE filing are Rowena Guanzon, Albert Lim, Al Parreño and Sheriff Abas.
The LP and Roxas had earlier asked for a 14-day extension to file their SOCE after they failed to meet the June 8 deadline set by the Comelec. LP finally filed its SOCE on June 14. The documents did not include Roxas’ SOCE.
Bautista said the poll body is ready to defend before the high court its ruling to extend the filing of expenditures report beyond the June 8 deadline.
In a television interview, Bautista acknowledged there may be parties “that would like to question our decision with the Supreme Court,” saying that doing so “is their prerogative.”
Meanwhile, Guanzon took to Twitter on Friday to explain her side, saying the law “does not prohibit” the move.
“Comelec can relax its rules; respect the will of the people; absurd consequences if strictly applied,” she tweeted.
In a press briefing on Thursday, Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said majority of the commissioners cited the “absurdity” of the consequence if the period to file the SOCE is not extended.
