Campaign expenses

 BEHIND THE SCENES

Alfred P. Dizon

With the start of the new year, the move of the Commission on Elections to monitor campaign expenses of candidates if they are following the law on poll spending is at best a shot to the moon or an exercise in futility.

For starters, the electoral body could ask jueteng lords how much they are giving these characters every 15 days so it could determine how much they are spending to get re-elected. But then, no jueteng lord or protector worth his salt would break the law of omerta at the risk of losing business or life as what happened to Boy Mayor who squealed.        

It is actually very easy to know how much those on the take are getting as even kubradors could rattle these off without blinking an eye. But then, since amount of protection money these characters are getting is hard to prove and considering there is no paper trail, looking into the statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) of these politicians may be an option.

In  Pangasinan, Gov. Espino was urged to bare his SALN in relation to the expose on his alleged links to jueteng to determine his guilt or innocence like we don’t have courts in the first place. As his drumbeaters would say, accusations against the governor are hearsay and tainted with political machinations of those who don’t want him to stay in power.  

 If he will win next elections, he could still be accused of having used jueteng money to finance his campaign. How the Comelec could ascertain how much he spent to get re-elected, and if he will win, are foregone conclusions.  

Espino is just one among the many officials in this Banana Republic whose campaign expenses are hard to monitor, where he gets his money aside from his salary or business thrusts.

It is indeed a tall order for the Comelec to determine how much these characters are spending to get their juicy posts. If the Comelec can’t issue the long overdue Comelec IDs or purge voter’s lists of ghost or flying voters how much more to  ascertaining campaign expenses of aspirants?     

Comelec officials in Manila said they will tap the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) to help scrutinize the campaign finances of candidates in the 2013 polls.

Comelec commissioner Rene Sarmiento recently said the AMLC would be included in a committee that would review the Statement of Contributions and Expenses (SOCE) of the candidates.

“We need more eyes to look into campaign finance. The Comelec cannot perform this task alone because we have so many things to do and we lack the expertise (in accounting and auditing),” Sarmiento said.

This will be the first time that the AMLC would be reportedly be involved in the review of campaign finances. The council was formed in 2011 to prevent the country from becoming a money-laundering site of any unlawful activity.

Other members of the committee are the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Commission on Audit (COA).

 The National Citizen’s Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) may be tasked by the Comelec to help in monitoring compliance with campaign finance rules. As the Comelec’s citizen’s arm in previous polls, Namfrel was engaged in the quick count of election results.

But while the group’s application for accreditation for 2013 has yet to be approved, it may be tasked to monitor the SOCE.

Sarmiento said they want to make sure that Namfrel and the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) would not have duplicate functions. The PPCRV, as a citizen’s arm, has been involved in voters’ education and deployment of watchers in polling precincts.

The Comelec official said the AMLC could help them determine the sources of candidates’ war chests.

“It is very important to monitor campaign finance because we would know where they got the money or who are the big donors. Is it narco-politics, drug money or jueteng money?” Sarmiento said.

The Comelec is expecting stronger compliance with the SOCE in the coming elections as it ordered candidates to submit the document by including it in the certificates of candidacy they filed last October.

The agency has an agreement with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) that winning candidates would not be allowed to assume office unless they have filed the SOCE. Sarmiento said the Comelec also wants to know if a winning candidate would eventually give favors to his/her donors in terms of government contracts, among others.

Like we said, it is a tall order. Who was that who said all these were moro-moro?