AN OFFICIAL of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has advised candidates to file their respective Statement of Contribution and Expenditures (Soce) on time to avoid sanctions.
Lawyer Stephen Roy Cañete, Comelec Regional Information Officer, issued the advice citing the non-extendable deadline for the filing of Soce is on June 8.
Cañete, who is also the second district election officer, said that all candidates, whether they won or lost, are required to file the Soce as stipulated under the law.
He said administrative fine will be slapped against candidates who failed to file the Soce. Winning candidates will not be allowed to assume office on June 30.
The lawyer added that candidates who failed to submit their Soce twice will be perpetually disqualified to run in future elections.
The Soce shows the list of the candidates’ campaign donors as well as how much they spent during the elections.
There were a total of 99 individuals, including incumbent officials, who filed their certificate of candidacies (COCs) for the May 9, 2016 polls in Zamboanga City’s two congressional districts.
There were seven candidates for representatives in the first district while four in the second district. Six ran for mayor and six filed COC for vice mayor.
Seventy-six or 38 in each district ran for city councilors.(Bong Garcia)