Comelec lists ‘perpetually disqualified’ candidates who failed to file SOCEs

EARLY BIRDS Candidates for barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan positions pack the Comelec office in Manila on Saturday. —MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has identified about a hundred candidates who have been perpetually disqualified from holding public office due to repeated failure to file their Statement of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCE).

In a list published on its website, the Comelec named 105 candidates who were now prohibited from holding public office.

The Comelec earlier warned that candidates who fail to submit their SOCEs before the deadline risk being “perpetually disqualified to hold public office.”

Section 14 of Republic Act 7166 states that winning candidates who fail to file their SOCEs would be prohibited from holding public office until he or she complies with the requirement.

Likewise, a second or subsequent failure to file their SOCEs would subject offenders to perpetual disqualification to hold public office. /je