Comelec chairman urges: Consider candidates' pre-campaign spending in voting

Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Andres Bautista urged voters to take into account expenses incurred by a candidate before start of the official campaign period when choosing who to elect to office.

Bautista made the pronouncement in a television interview on Tuesday amid reports that candidates have already spent billions in television advertisements ahead of the start of the campaign period, which is set 90 days before the election day for national positions (February 9) and 45 days before the elections for local positions (March 25).

"Kaya nga sinasabi namin na at this point, hindi na ito usapang legal kundi usapang moral. Siguro dapat ang ating taumbayan lalo na iyong mga botante, dapat tinitignan nila sino iyong umaabuso. In which case, maybe they should use that as an indicator or as a point against that candidate,” he said.

When asked if Comelec can do anything about the pre-campaign spending, Bautista reiterated his earlier position that there are no laws saying that the poll body can monitor political aspirants’ expenses before the campaign period.

"I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again. Really, the Comelec is tasked to implement a law. But at this point, there is no law. And why there is no law? Because under Republic Act 9369, even if you filed your certificate of candidacy in October, you are not deemed a candidate until the start of the campaign period. From October all the way up to February, basically it’s free for all," he said.

The Comelec will only begin monitoring expenses at the start of the campaign period.

"If you are running for president or vice president, it’s P10 for every registered voter. We have 54.3 million registered voters for 2016. So it means that you can spend only P543 million for each candidate for president and vice president," Bautista said.

According to Section 264 of the Article XXII of the Omnibus Election Code, any person found guilty of any election offense may be imprisoned, disqualified to hold public office, and deprived of the right of suffrage.

A report by Nielsen Philippines released on January 5 said that four presidential candidates — Vice President Jejomar Binay, Senator Grace Poe, former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, and Davao City Mayor Rody Duterte — spent a total of P1,584,171,342 for TV ads alone from January to November 2015. —Trisha Macas/JST, GMA News