On late filing of SOCE: ‘We did not disregard our responsibility’ — LP official

An official of the Liberal Party (LP) on Friday said their party did not disregard its responsibility when it failed to meet the June 8 deadline set by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for the filing of expenditure reports. 

In a statement, LP Secretary General and Occidental Mindoro Rep. Josephine Sato said the deadline for submitting Statements of Contributions and Expenses (SOCEs) was “very tight.” 

“The Liberal Party is a national party, with chapters all over the country. As part of due diligence, we had to await receipts, invoices, and information from all these chapters before we could file our SOCE," she explained.

"The deadline is one month after elections—very tight considering none of the other candidates has an organization as wide as ours, and we had to account for millions' worth of expenses,” she further said.

“We officially informed Comelec that we would be late and asked for an extension. Now, one week later, we have filed our papers. We did not disregard our responsibility and we certainly did not flout the law,” Sato added. 

Sato issued the statement after the Comelec granted the LP’s request and several similar petitions that they be allowed to file their SOCEs beyond the June 8 deadline set the Comelec long before the May 9 elections.

Candidates who failed to file their SOCEs last June 8 include LP standard-bearer Mar Roxas, the lone presidential candidate who did not submit, as well as 15 senators, 40 governors, and 115 representatives. 

The extension also covers two other national political parties, including reelected Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada's Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino and Aksyon Demokratiko.

According to Comelec spokesman James Jimenez, the commissioners who voted in favor of granting an extension noted the "absurdity of the result" if it is not allowed, since non-filing of the said report will bar winning candidates from taking their elective posts.

"'Yung ganoon karami ang hindi makakaupo simply because hindi nakapag-file ng kanilang SOCE, ang problema niyan, made-defeat mo essentially 'yung boses ng mga botante. Kasi binoto itong mga taong ito, tapos biglang hindi mo papaupuin simply because wala silang SOCE? 'Yun ang gusto nating iwasan," he told reporters. 

In a statement, United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) spokesman Mon Ilagan said the move "only shows the Commission's biases" towards LP and Roxas, adding that it signalled "the passing of the Rule of Law."

"Comelec may have not noticed, but they just killed the very rule they have raised. And by frequently bending their own rules, they have shown their true colors. They have made their own rules irrelevant, and what they did to accommodate Roxas and LP was completely out of step," Ilagan said.  — VVP, GMA News