Comelec Warns Candidates to Submit SECE by June 12

The Commission on Elections has warned both winning and losing candidates in the May 13 Automated national and local elections that they will be sanctioned by the government if they failed to submit their Statement of Election Contributions and Expenditures (SECE) by June 12.

Cebu provincial election supervisor Eddie Aba said even those candidates who later on withdrew from their candidacies and those who lost during the elections are still required to submit their SECE and they should submit an itemized report of how much donations they received and how they spent it.

A SECE shows an “itemized statement of all contributions and expenditures for their campaign, including the full names and addresses of the donors and payees, the date it was donated or paid as well as the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) of all donors.”

Aside from facing administrative charges, the law said the newly-elected officials who failed to submit their statement of election contribution and expenses will not be allowed by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to assume to their respective positions.

The DILG and Comelec officials had signed an agreement that any winning candidate will not be allowed to assume office until a Comelec certification is shown, proving that they have submitted their SECEs.

But for losing candidates who fails to comply with the requirements they will be slapped with a fine from P1,000 but not exceeding P30,000 while the political parties whom candidates fail to submit their SECEs will also be sanctioned.

Based on Comelec resolution 9476, the candidates are allowed only to spend P3.00 per voter, but most of the candidates just ignored it although they will state in their SECE that each of them only spent what the law provides.