ONLY 31 of the 62 candidates during the 2019 Midterm Elections have complied with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) requirement as of 12 noon Thursday, June 13, 2019, the last day of filing of Statements of Contributions and Expenditures (Soce).
These include 26 local council candidates and the Duterte siblings - Sara Duterte-Carpio (mayor), Sebastian "Baste" Duterte (vice mayor) and Paolo "Pulong" Duterte (first district representative).
Comelec-Davao spokesperson Krishna Caballero told Sunstar Davao that most of those who earlier submitted their Soce are winning candidates.
She said the number would still increase since the submission was extended until 8 p.m. yesterday.
Caballero said candidates, winning, losing and disqualified, are mandated to submit the requirement "for transparancy purposes".
"Mahibal-an nato kung pila gyud ila tinuod nga nagasto during the elections (We will be able to determine how much did they spend during the elections)," she said.
Section 14 of Republic Act 7166 requires every candidate and political party shall, within 30 days after the Election Day, file with the Commission the full, true, and itemized Soces.
However, it was extended one day since the 30th day fell on June 12, Independence Day, a regular holiday.
Also required to file such document are those whose campaigns were self-funded, those who did not incur expenditures and those who did not pursue their campaign activities despite filing their Certificates of Candidacy or those who withdrew their candidacies.
According to Comelec Resolution 10505, the office of an elected candidate, who failed to file Soce, shall be considered vacant pursuant to Section 11 of the Omnibus Election Code (OEC) until he has complied and submitted his Soce within six months from the proclamation.
Once a candidate fails to assume office, a permanent vacancy will be filled up in accordance with the law.
Meanwhile, the Comelec regional office will check the submitted Soce befoere it will shipped to the central office for auditing.