Believe it or not, but I actually stood up to applaud when I saw the published statements of expenditures that candidates filed last Wednesday to beat the Comelec deadline. Never in my life have I seen such an open and widespread display of honesty in all my life.
It was also an extremely humbling experience just looking at the figures submitted by the candidates. By the numbers submitted, I can now fully appreciate the true extent to which poverty in this country has spread.
I now have reason to believe that Eddie Barrita of the southern side of the Cotcot River is far richer than any of the candidates who submitted their statements of campaign expenses to the Comelec last Wednesday.
Attorney Barrita is known to spend a far bigger amount for the annual reunion of former staff members of The Visayanian, the student publication of the University of the Visayas, than any of the candidates must have spent for any one of their rallies, judging by their statements.
The biggest expense was apparently that of one candidate, who admitted spending just short of six million pesos just to lose the election. About half of that was spent by the winning candidate.
Other candidates admitted to spending even far far less. Many did not spend a million pesos. Some even spent just a quarter or a third of a million pesos. One is tempted to imagine whether these candidates handed out lollipops during the campaign.
But then these are very hard times, remember? Everyone is just a little bit poorer than before. If countries like Greece and Spain are grappling with enormous debts and may need some bailing out, you do not expect candidates in a poor country like the Philippines to splurge.
Of course it helps in the impoverishment of the candidates that the Comelec itself would be so encouraging. In words that can reduce mountains of cash into molehills, the Comelec told anyone willing to listen that there is no way it can ascertain the truth on campaign expenses.
No words can be more soothing to the ears of the desirous for destitution. Hardly had the words left the mouth of those speaking for the Comelec than everybody who ran a decent campaign in the last election was suddenly seized with the desire to be poor and honestly proud about it.
I don't know if everybody beat the Comelec deadline to submit their proofs of poverty. But with the Comelec itself admitting its inability to tell the difference between pulling a leg and lying through the teeth, does it really matter if the deadline is met or not?
Just as the Comelec, by its own earlier admission, said it has no way of enforcing limits to campaign advertising, so should demanding the submission of statements of campaign expenses be an exercise in futility.
Even much earlier, the Comelec struck down the candidacies of those it deemed unable to mount a credible campaign, which is just like saying they were so poor they might as well quit. But with the figures submitted, it seems the Comelec should have disqualified even more.
On the other hand, things may not be as worthless as they may seem. With the proofs of poverty being dutifully accepted and acknowledged by the Comelec, what is to stop these precious documents from being used to prove destitution before other agencies of government like the BIR.
Maybe the candidates can use their statements of campaign expenses as supporting documents to prove to the BIR any sudden loss of income or personal net worth. After all, what is good for the Comelec should be good enough for the BIR.