BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – All candidates in the recent elections, be they winners or losers, must submit their Statements of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCE), according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Negros Occidental.
Section 14 of Republic Act 7166 requires every candidate and political party to file with the Comelec the full, true, and itemized SOCEs within 30 days after Election Day, according to Atty. Roberto Salazar, provincial elections supervisor.
Under the law, no person elected to any public offices shall enter upon the duties of his office until he has filed his SOCE.
Nonfilers will be fined and subjected to perpetual disqualification from holding any public office.
In 2017, the Supreme Court also ruled that candidates running for an elective post who failed to file twice their campaign expense reports within 30 days from election day is perpetually disqualified to hold public office.
Recently, the Comelec central office disclosed that about 500 candidates may face perpetual disqualification from holding any public office for failing to declare their campaign expenses in previous elections.
Last week, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) issued a similar reminder to politicians and political parties.
“Within 30 days after the May 9, 2022 national and local election, every candidate and treasurer of the political parties and party list groups, whether winning or losing, shall submit the SOCE to the Comelec and revenue district office where the candidates, political parties and party-list groups are registered,” a statement from BIR read./PN