Comelec wants office to scrutinize campaign spending

Manila, Philippines - An official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has underscored the need to establish a permanent department in the poll body that will scrutinize the campaign expenses of candidates.

According to Comelec Commissioner Christian Robert Lim, the poll body is up to its neck with work so it could not check thoroughly the campaign spending and contributions received by candidates.

“The capability of the Comelec is limited to determining whether candidates have filed their statements of contributions and expenditures. We want to expand in order to authenticate the contents of their statements,” he said.

Under the Omnibus Election Code, winning and losing candidates are required to submit such statements to determine whether or not they violated the limit for campaign spending.

But owing to lack of manpower and expertise, the Comelec could no longer screen these statements.

Lim said that the Comelec’s law department is the one tasked to receive and scrutinize these documents.

“But we are also aware that during elections, the law department is overwhelmed not only with this but also with election offenses, authentication and other functions. We want to have a department that focuses on this matter, especially on audit,” he added.

Last week, Comelec officials and personnel attended a workshop with Commissioner Ellen Weintraub of the United States Federal Election Commission on how to deal with campaign finances.

“She’s here to help and share her knowledge in enforcing campaign finance in the United States. We hope we can learn from her so we can also enforce campaign finance in the Philippines,” he said.