Campaign spending limit outdated, Comelec admits

The limit on how much a candidate can spend during elections is already outdated, the spokesperson for the Commission on Elections (Comelec) admitted Thursday. "San ka nakakita ng reasonable campaign na ang spending P10 ang allowance? How do you do that? (Where have you seen a reasonable campaign where the allowance is only P10 per voter? How do you pull that off?)," director James Jimenez told reporters in an interview. In the May 10 polls, Comelec Resolution 8944 mandated candidates for president and vice president with political parties to spend P10 per registered voter while other candidates also with parties, P3 per voter. On the other hand, candidates without the support of political parties may spend P5 for every voter. There were about 50.7 million registered voters during last month's elections. Jimenez pointed out, however, that this is not enough because it has become very expensive to campaign these days. "Ang daming Pilipino and pinka-efficient way to reach the people ay sa pamamaraang mahal: mass media (There are too many Filipinos and the most efficient way to reach them is too expensive: through the use of the mass media)," he said. Gap in the law? Because of this, Jimenez said the current spending limit somehow gives candidates no choice but to lie on their expenditure reports. "(There is a) gap in the law that predisposes people to break that law because it is not reasonable," he said. Comelec Resolution 8944 also requires candidates to submit a statement of contributions they received and expenditures they incurred during the campaign period. It says that the statement must indicate the amount of contribution, the date of its receipt, and the full name and address of the person who gave the contribution. It should also state the amount of every expenditure, the date it was incurred, the full name and address of the person who paid for it, and the purpose of the expenditure. It should likewise indicate if there is an "unpaid obligation" to any person. So far, however, no candidate has admitted that he or she exceeded the campaign spending limit. Earlier in the day, political parties Lakas-Kampi-CMD, Liberal Party, Nacionalista Party (NP), and Nationalist People's Coalition submitted their statement of contributions and expenditures with the poll body. The documents showed that NP spent the most with P228,701,229 in campaign expenses, only P80,000 of which was paid for by contributions. Incidentally, NP's defeated presidential bet, Senator Manuel Villar Jr., was the presidential candidate who spent most during the two-month campaign period. He said in his statement that he incurred P431,557,816 in campaign expenditures, all of which were supposedly paid for using his own money. On the other hand, Lakas-Kampi claimed to be the party with the least campaign expenses with P130,684,725.31, all of which was supposedly shouldered by its contributors. Its defeated standard bearer — Gilberto Teodoro — is also so far the presidential bet with the least amount of expenditures with P3,463,307. False reports? But Jimenez said the candidates' expenditures are "likely to be much higher" than what they report. "Titingnan mo talaga yung what you see in your own eyes versus what’s on paper (You have to compare what you see with your eyes and what you see on paper)," he said. Although admitting that they don't yet have the means to audit the expenses, Jimenez said they can ask the help of other monitoring entities to verify the statements. He specifically cited the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Commission on Audit. He noted, however, that the expenditures submitted by the candidates will still be their basis, noting that the documents were made under oath. "Findings of other entities will only be for the purpose of cross-checking what we have. They will not supersede the submissions of the candidates," he said. Candidates were given until Thursday to file their expenditure reports. Jimenez said they plan to come out with a list of candidates who have submitted expenditure reports. The resolution says that failure to file the statement will constitute an administrative offense which is punishable by a fine ranging from P1,000 to P30,000 at the discretion of the Comelec. Violation of the spending limit is also an election offense, which is punishable by disenfranchisement, disqualification from holding public office, and imprisonment from one to six years. Jimenez also said that candidates may be found guilty of perjury should the poll body find out that they lied on their statements. Recommendation? Despite his observations, Jimenez told GMANews.TV in a text message that the Comelec doesn't have a recommendation yet on what should be done about the outdated spending cap. Jimenez said this is because they have yet to conduct an official study of how much the spending limit should be based on today's market prices. He said that they might probably ask groups like poll finance watchdog Pera't Pulitika to give them recommendations on what would be the "ideal" spending cap. "We can then, if we accept the recommendation, submit to Congress. Alternatively, Congress can hold its own technical working group," he said. — RSJ/KBK, GMANews.TV