Solon wants to increase cap on poll spending

A CONGRESSMAN wants to increase the campaign expenditure limit for president, vice president, senator and local officials consistent with the country’s rising prices of goods and services.

In a press briefing Tuesday, Capiz Rep. Fredenil Castro said he has filed House Bill 5928, which seeks to increase the poll expense limit for the President to P50 from P10, Vice President to P35 from P10, and for senators to P35 from P5.

The bill also seeks to increase the cap for local candidates such as district and party-list representatives to P30 from P3, and for candidates who do not have a political party to P35 from just P5.

Castro said the increase in poll campaign limit is based on inflation and Consumer Price Index.

The bill seeks to amend Republic Act 7166, or the “Synchronized National and Local Elections” Act, which sets the poll expense a candidate may spend for every registered voter in his or her constituency.

“I have realized that the present law that places a cut on the maximum expenditure allowable to each and every candidate is already obsolete, outdated, no longer responsive,” Castro, who chairs the House suffrage and electoral reforms committee, said.

He said if his bill is passed, a president might spend P2.5 billion for his or her campaign. This is still small because a presidential election actually costs over P5 billion, Castro added.

Castro said his bill would put an end to falsified statements of contributions and election expenditures candidates submit to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

“The Comelec as well as the entire nation is already tired looking at a sham and falsified statement of election expenditure… To my mind, it’s very awkward and as a matter of practice, objectionable, because all reports, election reports including expenses incurred by a particular candidate in an election, should be truthful. We are being made as hypocrites by submitting sham reports,” Castro said.

“Therefore, the purpose of the law is, one, to know the actual expenditure, second, so that candidates will be allowed more responsive expense during election time and that they will also be encouraged to report the true expenditure incurred during election,” he added.

The Supreme Court this year upheld a Comelec ruling disqualifying Laguna governor Emilio Ramon “ER” Ejercito, nephew of former President and now Manila mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada, for overspending. He spent P23.5 million for his gubernatorial campaign even though his allowable campaign limit under the law is only P4.5 million.