Bets spending to be strictly monitored

THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Davao Region will look closely on the spending of candidates for the May 2013 elections as it vows to strictly implement the P3 per voter rule that local candidates should spend during the campaign period.

Lawyer Marlon Casquejo, Comelec assistant regional director in Thursday's I-Speak forum held at the City Hall, told reporters that the poll body has created a unit called Campaign Finance Unit (CFU) that will evaluate the candidates' statement of expenditures.

The unit is also tasked to monitor candidates' spending and all sorts of donations from their supporters.

For candidates seeking for national elective posts, they should only spend P5 per voter.

"Dili jud nato na ma monitor kung mag rely lang ta sa ilang gina-submit na mga statements (We can never really monitor their expenditures if we only rely on the statements that they submit to us)," Casquejo said.

He said the Comelec started this campaign during the 2010 elections but it was not totally implemented. He said with the newly-created unit, everything will be put in place.

Casquejo also said that since the filing of certificate of candidacy (COC) for those who will run in the upcoming elections is slated on October 1-5, the Comelec is set to temporarily suspend the voters' registration and will resume October 6.

There will also be no midnight filing this time because Casquejo said aspiring candidates have all the time to file their COCs during day time on October 1-5.

The Comelec also noted that most of the candidates are used to filing their COCs at midnight during the last day of the filing of COCs.

This is the same reason why the Comelec reduced to five days the filing period, instead of 10 days.

"What's the use of a 10-day filing period kung dili man gihapon nila gamiton ang (if they will not make use the) 10 days," Casquejo said.

The Comelec's monitoring team will start on the same day the campaign period starts.

As of Thursday, he said, the Comelec is yet to issue an official order on the exact date of the campaign period but usually, it would start 45 days before the election for national candidates and 30 days for local posts.

Casquejo said while the Comelec has been prioritizing the voters' registration and the filing of the COC, other tasks have been set aside, including the distribution of voters ID from who registered in 2010.

He said they have to delay the distribution of Voters' ID to some other dates because they still have to sort them out per barangay.