Comelec eyes computation of bets’ expenses after COC filing

MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is looking to assess campaign expenses of candidates for the May 9, 2022 National and Local Elections (NLE) once they have filed their certificates of candidacy (COC).

Commissioner Rowena Guanzon said the plan is included in the reforms they would want to implement in the forthcoming polls.

“There are some reforms that we would like to do. One of them is for computing campaign expenses, we would like, I mean I think the majority of us agree that once the candidate files their COC, then the clock starts ticking for campaign finance so all expenses should be counted from the time immediately upon submission of the COC,” she said in an online event on Thursday afternoon.

Under the law, candidates should submit Statements of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCEs) within 30 days after the elections.

Guanzon added that they are also planning to include election advertisements on social media in their assessment.

“We don’t have yet but we are looking for a way to compute ads through social media like Facebook (FB) and Twitter. That’s one big project that I would like to see done before I retire in February next year. Because we cannot regulate the use of social media…we don’t have the technology for that. But I think we can compete for the expenses if FB or Twitter will help,” Guanzon added.

She believes that elections next year will be different since there is a pandemic.

“It is an election like no other because the rules of the game must change. The method of campaign will be to change…there’s a lot of reliance on social media as campaign platform which is difficult for Comelec to compute in terms of campaign expenses. We are hoping that experts will be able to help us with that,” she added.

The poll body already set the period for the filing of COCs which is from October 1 to 8.