DAVAO CITY—A militant group on Friday urged the outgoing administration to declare the public resources and funds it allegedly used to run the campaign of Liberal Party bets in the May 9 elections, saying its “brazen use” of government resources in the campaign should be considered an election offense.
“The Liberal Party and Mar Roxas should declare how much Noynoy Aquino contributed to their campaign by way of government resources and public funds,” said Bagong Alyansang Makabayan secretary-general Renato Reyes, referring to LP standard bearer Manuel Roxas II and President Benigno Aquino III by their nicknames.
“The Comelec should at least look into this matter now,” Reyes said, accusing the poll agency of turning a blind eye to irregularities committed by the ruling party, including the rampant use of the government’s dole program and its “bottom-up budgeting” for partisan purposes.
“How many of the rallies and assemblies that mobilized 4P’s beneficiaries were actually funded by taxpayers? How many local sorties were funded by the LGU beneficiaries of the BUB program?” Reyes asked.
On the last day of SOCE submission, Roxas failed to submit his campaign expenditures citing “voluminous number of receipts that have to be scanned and attached to the document.”
His election lawyer, Romulo Macalintal, maintained that there was no violation of the law if his client failed to file his SOCE on time.
“There’s no problem. It was just a late filing. There was no violation of the law. He will still file [the SOCE] and the worst-case scenario [is] to pay a fine,” Macalintal said.
On Thursday, Roxas and his camp filed a letter of request asking the Comelec for a 14-day extension of the period of SOCE submission.
Reyes however, urged the poll body to look further into Roxas’ poll contributions, saying that they haven’t done so in the longest time.
“Should these not be counted as contributions to the LP campaign by no less than the national government?” he said.
On Friday, outgoing Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto described as “ludicrous” the claim by a Comelec spokesman that LP candidates who won during the May 9 elections would not be able to assume their positions due to the party’s failure to file its mandatory statement of contributions and expenditures.
“If the LP has not submitted SOCE, the Comelec may impose a fine on the party. But for a Comelec member to say that members of the party cannot assume office is ludicrous,” Recto said in a text message to The Standard.
Recto, who earlier denied signing any resolution supporting Senator Aquilino Pimentel III as the next Senate president, said he submitted his SOCE on time.
“I did not receive any contribution from LP,” he said.
The reelected senator said he was studying his options, including the possibility of joining the minority bloc with Senators Antonio Trillanes IV and Francis Escudero.
Senator-elect Leila de Lima said she saw no problem for the winning candidates. The law provides that once the SOCE is filed by the political party, the winning candidates can assume office.
“The Liberal Party still has 20 days to complete and submit its SOCE so LP candidates can assume office on June 30,” said De Lima. “We’re confident that LP will be able to comply.”
The senators were reacting to a statement earlier this week from Comelec spokesman James Jimenez, who said that under the law, winning candidates cannot assume their positions unless their political party has filed its SOCE.
“It is in the law that if the political party was not able to file the SOCE, their candidates that won cannot assume their posts,” Jimenez said. “That is what the law says right now. As you can imagine, that might have a far reaching consequences.”
But De Lima said Friday that winning candidates will be unable to take their positions even if the party eventually submits its SOCE is “an absurd interpretation of the law.”
The penalty of non-submission is that the candidate cannot assume office, but once the SOCE is submitted, the suspension is automatically lifted, she said.
Vice President Leni Robredo expressed optimism that she would be able to discharge her duties, saying she wanted to know the status of the party’s request for a two-week extension.
“What is important is that according to the rules, we have to submit before June 30 because if not, we will not be able to sit in office,” Robredo told reporters in Kananga, Leyte on Friday.
“But I’m sure that the [Liberal] Party can submit it before June 30,” she added.
Romeo Macalintal, Robredo’s election lawyer, that the vice president-elect can still assume office even as the ruling Liberal Party failed to submit the party SOCE.
“With or without the filing of the statement of contributions and expenditures of the Liberal Party which nominated VP-elect Leni Robredo, the latter can still assume the office of the vice president since she had already filed her own SOCE,” Macalintal said.
“The will of the people cannot be set aside on mere misdoing or omission of the political party, which nominated a winning candidate,” he added.