Mayor reports spending P276,000 in campaign

TACLOBAN CITY—Reelected Tacloban Mayor Alfred Romualdez, two defeated mayoral candidates and two councilors in this city have submitted their statements of election contributions and expenditures (Sece).

In his Sece submitted to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday, Romualdez declared that his election expenses reached P276,599.22.

His wife, Cristina, who won her reelection bid as city councilor, reported that she incurred P126,078 in election expenses.

The Romualdez couple said the amount they spent during the elections was sourced from “personal funds.”

The other defeated mayoral candidate, Francisco Mercado, reported in his Sece that his election expenses reached P50,000.

Elected Councilor Evangeline Esperas also reported that she incurred P86,210 in election expenses.

Deadline for submission of the Sece is on June 13.

The submission of the election expenses is mandatory, as winners would be prohibited to assume their seats aside from being fined. Even losing candidates will also be fined. The fine ranges from P1,000 up to P30,000, depending on the discretion of the Comelec.

Under elections law, a candidate running under a political party can spend only P3 per voter while those running as an independent candidate can spend P5 for every voter.

Last year, the Department of the Interior and Local Government and Comelec signed a memorandum of agreement in a bid to regulate election-related expenses.

Elections in the region were marred by massive vote-buying, ranging from P20 up to P6,000 per voter depending on the position.