Bets reminded of expense reports

With just two more days remaining before the deadline, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chair Sixto Brillantes Jr. on Friday urged those who ran in the May 13 elections to submit their statements of contributions and expenditures (SOCEs).

Brillantes reminded the candidates, particularly the winners of the congressional races, that they have only until tomorrow to submit their SOCEs and correct any deficiencies.

“There is a law that says that you can’t assume (office) unless you filed a statement of contributions and expenditures. So, if they don’t follow that … they’re the ones who made the law, not us. We are just implementing it,” he said.

Actually, the law provides that the SOCE should be submitted one month after the elections, Brillantes said.

“So the deadline was really June 13. We just extended it to June 30 but they will have to pay a fine,” he said.

The Comelec chief said that the poll body has an agreement with the Department of Interior and Local Government that winning local candidates who failed to submit their SOCEs would not be allowed to take their oath.

However, there is no such agreement between the Comelec, the Senate and the House of Representatives, he said.

As of June 20, of the 12 winning senatorial candidates, only Senator-elect Alan Pater Cayetano had submitted a SOCE without deficiencies, the Comelec said.

“They shouldn’t say that we’re picking on them. They should not say that we are strict, that’s the law that they passed, we are just implementing it,” Brillantes said.