Posting of 2025 poll bets' SOCEs on Comelec website pushed

MANILA – Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman George Garcia said Wednesday he is pushing for the statement of contributions and expenditures (SOCEs) of all candidates in the 2025 midterm election to be posted on the commission's website to promote complete transparency.

"Ipo-propose rin po ng inyong lingkod sa Comelec en banc ngayong linggo na dapat mailathala rin 'yung SOCE (I will also propose to the Comelec en banc this week that the SOCE be published)," Garcia said in a media interview.

He said the voters should know the campaign donors, how much the candidates spent, and how they spent the money.

"This time, kapag ito ay nailabas natin kahit sa website ng Comelec, sa aking palagay, kahit papaano mase-serve na natin 'yung general interest na magkaroon ng complete transparency lalong-lalo na kung eleksyon ang pag-uusapan (This time, once we release this even on the Comelec website, we will somehow be able to serve the general interest of having complete transparency, especially when it comes to elections)," Garcia said.

All candidates are required to file their SOCEs days after the election.

Meanwhile, Garcia said the seven-man en banc panel has approved in principle his earlier proposal for the posting of the candidates' Certificate of Candidacy (COC) and Certificate of Nomination and Acceptance (CONA) on the Comelec website.

"Itinalaga ang law department at information technology department para gumawa ng policy paano isasagawa nang hindi ma-violate privacy ng candidates (The law and information departments have been tasked to create a policy on how to implement the policy without violating the privacy of candidates)," he said.

Garcia said his proposal aims to promote transparency, and that COCs and CONAs would provide the electorate with the right information about the leaders they would elect.

"Para hindi later on nagugulat ang kababayan natin kung bakit biglang kandidato ito or pinaghahanap pala sa batas, convicted pala. Hindi pala citizen ng bansa. Hindi pala tamang edad (So that our countrymen would not be surprised later on why this individual suddenly became a candidate when he/she is wanted by the law, or has been convicted, or is not a citizen of the country, or is not the right age)," he said.

The COC provides information about the candidate's name, nickname, the public post he/she is running for; the political party to which he/she belongs; civil status; his/her date of birth; residence; his/her post office address for all election purposes; his/her profession or occupation, among others.

The filing of COCs for the May 2025 midterm will be from Oct. 1 to 8.

Garcia, meanwhile, warned that candidates who will not follow environment-friendly campaign activities in the 2025 polls may be disqualified and be charged with election offenses.

He said specific penalties would be included in the guidelines to be crafted by the Committee on Environmentally Sustainable Elections headed by Commissioner Ernesto Maceda Jr.

"At naatasan din sila na mag draft ng guidelines at policy direction paano papasakatuparan ng Comelec yung sustainable elections hindi lang sa 2025 (And they were also assigned to draft guidelines and policy direction on how the Comelec will carry out sustainable elections not only in 2025)," Garcia said.

Earlier, Garcia proposed the creation of a committee to minimize the environmental impact of campaign activities, such as rallies and sorties, and the production and eventual disposal of campaign materials.

In the past, candidates and political parties have been using campaign materials that would later contribute to the country's waste.

Over 3.7 million applications have been processed since the voter registration activities resumed early this year, the Comelec said.

The voter registration period will run until Sept. 30, 2024.

Aside from registering new voters, the poll body also accepts applications for transfer, change/corrections of entries in the registration records, reactivation of registration records, inclusion of registration records and reinstatement of names on the list of voters, and transfer of registration records from foreign service post to local. (PNA)