PDP-Laban to challenge ruling on SOCE

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Partymates of president-elect Rodrigo Duterte are poised to question before the Supreme Court a Commission on Elections (Comelec) ruling extending the deadline for the filing of Statements of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCE) by candidates in the last elections.

PDP-Laban secretary-general Davao del Norte representative-elect Pantaleon Alvarez said the Comelec ruling was unfair to other candidates and political parties that have complied with the law by meeting the deadline for filing of their respective SOCEs last June 8.

Acting on a petition from the Liberal Party of President Aquino, the Comelec extended the deadline for the filing of SOCE to June 30.

Comelec Commissioner Christian Robert Lim, who voted against the extension, said he would tender his resignation as head of the poll body’s campaign finance office (CFO) on Monday. The office is tasked to review SOCEs filed by candidates.

In a text message, Lim said the “policy shift was not acceptable” to him. He did not elaborate.

Alvarez, who is expected to be elected speaker of the House of Representatives in the incoming 17th Congress, said the law was clear that a winning candidate may not assume office if he or she fails to submit SOCE on time.

“No extension. It’s the problem of the political parties, including Liberal Party, if they failed to do the filing but they cannot violate the law,” he told ABS-CBN.

LP’s standard bearer Manuel Roxas II submitted his SOCE a week after the original June 8 deadline. His runningmate Leni Robredo filed hers on time. But Alvarez said Robredo is still in danger of being barred from assuming her new post, as she has not yet secured a certificate of compliance from the poll body. 

The opposition United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) also decried the Comelec ruling.

In a statement, UNA spokesman Mon Ilagan assailed the Comelec for repeatedly reminding political parties of the June 8 deadline, only to change its mind and let the LP have its way.

He said the Comelec had even warned party treasurers of the consequences of late or incomplete submission.

“Today, we mourn the passing of the rule of law. Sadly, its final breath was taken away by a democracy-driven institution that is supposed to uphold the highest standard of integrity, impartiality and respect for the rule of law,” he said.

Ilagan said the Comelec has shown its bias for the administration with its granting of the LP request for extension.

Voting 4-3, Comelec commissioners ruled to grant the motion for extension and move the deadline to June 30. 

In explaining the ruling, Comelec said it was only proper to allow candidates to take their elective posts as doing otherwise would be unfair to voters who gave them the mandate.

Loose principle

But Ilagan said the poll body is trying to rationalize the loose principle of vox populi, vox dei as something above the law.

“Comelec may not have noticed, but they just killed the very rule they have raised. And by frequently bending their own rules, they have shown their true colors. They have made their own rules irrelevant, and what they did to accommodate Roxas and LP was completely out of step,” said Ilagan.

“What seems to be clear by now is the wholesale abandonment of the rule of law. The ‘final and non-extendible deadline’ rule stated in Comelec Resolution No. 9991 was a solid en banc decision only to be abandoned by the en banc itself. The sweeping disregard of pertinent laws and rules only shows the Comelec’s biases in favor of the Liberal Party,” he added.

Comelec Resolution No. 9991 affirms that late filing of SOCE amounts to a de-facto non-filing of SOCE, which has the effect of forfeiture of elective posts aside from the hefty penalties that they have to pay, said UNA.

“By extending the deadline, reversing their own rules and even going against what is clearly stipulated in the law, it obviously seems that the commissioners think that their powers are unlimited,” he said.

Republic Act 7166 or the Synchronized Local and National Elections and Electoral Reforms Act does not authorize the Comelec to extend the deadline for the filing of SOCE, UNA said.

“It is sad that the Comelec has become a Commission of men and not of laws. Even the Supreme Court has abandoned the vox populi, vox dei doctrine simply because it is bereft of any legal basis and no one can overturn an unequivocal statement in the Constitution. If the Comelec wants to be taken seriously, it should stop contradicting itself and start strictly enforcing the laws without fear or favor,” Ilagan added.

“For now, Roxas and the Liberal Party may have found an ally in the Comelec… but history will never forget those who were responsible for the murder of the rule of law,” he added. UNA fielded outgoing Vice President Jejomar Binay in the presidential race.

Allowed by law

On her Twitter account, Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon said an adjustment in the deadline is allowed under the law.

“The law does not prohibit extension. Comelec extended SOCE in 2010, 2013 too. All political parties and candidates benefit from extension,” she said.

“There is a rule on statutory construction – the law did not intend absurd consequences… Procedural rules cannot prevail over sovereign will of the people. Supreme Court has ruled that many times,” she noted.

Guanzon stressed the poll body had relaxed the rules on substitution in the case of Duterte.

“In Duterte’s case, we construed rules liberally even if there’s a gap in the law and rules. Substitution granted,” she added.

The official said that they also adjusted the rules for UNA “when they filed list of CONA (Certificates of Nomination and Acceptance) signatures late.”

“Their candidates would have been without a party, including Binay,” she added.   

She also said she had no knowledge of Lim’s plan to resign as CFO chief.

The commission had delayed resolving the LP petition because Lim was absent during its meetings last week.

In a memorandum last June 15, Lim noted the “final and non-extendible” nature of the June 8 deadline.

“The 30-day period reckoned from the day of election is a hard deadline set by law in Section 14 of Republic Act 7166 ... Any extension given by the Commission is tantamount to an amendment of RA 7166,” he added.

The STAR tried to get a comment from Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista but he did not reply.

Poll body erred

Former Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. said the poll body erred in extending the deadline. The Comelec, he said, should have only allowed late filing with corresponding fines.

Brillantes also maintained the Comelec should have respected Lim’s recommendation as he “generally knows best” being the head of the CFO.

“I cannot blame him if he wants to resign. I think he has every reason to do that. There should have been an understanding – that if the other commissioners will not adopt his recommendation, he would not just release it to avoid embarrassment,” he added.  

LP secretary general Josephine Sato, for her part, said the party did not shirk from its responsibility to file its SOCE. She said the LP is a national party with chapters all over the country.

“As part of due diligence, we had to await receipts, invoices and information from all these chapters before we could file our SOCE,” Sato said in a statement.

“The deadline is one month after elections – very tight considering none of the other candidates has an organization as wide as ours, and we had to account for millions’ worth of expenses,” she said.

She said the LP officially informed the Comelec that it would be late and asked for an extension.

“One week later, we have filed our papers. We did not disregard our responsibility and we certainly did not flout the law,” Sato said.

Meanwhile, Senate President Franklin Drilon clarified yesterday that he has already complied with the filing of SOCE.

Drilon, who received the highest number of votes in last May’s senatorial elections, said that he filed his SOCE last June 8 with the Comelec.

However, it was noted that there was an error in the format of the files submitted by Drilon.

“I filed my SOCE last June 8. However, some of the attachments were in PDF instead of Excel. The formal defects were corrected immediately,” Drilon said.

Outgoing Sen. Sergio Osmeña III, for his part, confirmed that he has not yet filed his SOCE.

Osmeña said that he has some problems with organizing his files, which led to the delay in his filing.

“The same problem everyone else has – poor record keeping. Must look for receipts and reconstruct files,” he said. Osmeña ran for reelection but failed to make it to the top 12.  –  Sheila Crisostomo, Marvin Sy, Janvic Mateo