Village, youth council bets asked to account for poll expenses or risk disqualification

WITH the proclamation of winners of the just concluded barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (village and youth council) elections almost through, the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) called on all candidates to file their statements of contribution and expenditures (SOCE) not later than June 13, or risk being perpetually disqualified from holding public office.

COMELEC Spokesman James Jimenez said on Tuesday that as of 1:50 p.m., 94.01 percent of all barangay nationwide have proclaimed the winners.

Regions 3 (Central Luzon) and 7 have proclaimed their winners in 3,102 and 3,003 villages respectively.

"Overall, it's almost finished.  Hopefully, by 8 p.m. it's all over," he added.

There are a total of 42,044 villages in 81 provinces around the country.  However, elections were not held in 100 for various reasons.

Excluded were 100 villages in Marawi City as per COMELEC Minute Resolution 18-0085, dated January 31, 2018, citing the ongoing rehabilitation of the Islamic City; Barangay Bagong Lipunan in Baguio City, CAR where market dwellers/voters were excluded per court order; Barangay 10 in Tondo, Manila, which has no voters as previous residents were relocated; Barangay Inampologan, Sibunag, Guimaras, which is a privately owned island where residents don't vote in barangay elections but do so in national elections; and Barangay Kohec, Sapa-Sapat, Tawi-Tawi, where no voters have been recorded.

There are a total of 1,070,991 candidates for 671,168 positions for both the barangay and SK elections.

"Finally, the election is over and it's time for candidates to file their SOCEs.  Candidates need to be reminded that they have 30 days with which to file their statement of contributions and expenditures, which means their deadline is June 13," Jimenez said in a press briefing.

Jimenez also stressed that "SOCE should be personally signed."

He said the non-filing of SOCE would not really be a ground for disqualification but would become one if a candidate has perennially disregarded requirements considering public office.

"If a loser did not file a SOCE, it will be part of his record as not having filed a SOCE this election.  If it becomes a habit of a candidate to disregard the requirement of SOCE, he will be disqualified later on," Jimenez said.


"Recently, we filed for permanent disqualification.  I think almost a thousand recidivists who repeatedly failed to file their SOCEs were disqualified from running," he added.

According to Jimenez, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) is also trying to find a way to enforce the SOCE by requiring barangay officials to present a certificate of compliance from the COMELEC before administering their oath of office.

Earlier, the COMELEC Campaign Finance Ofice (CFO) published in its website a list of candidates declared with finality by the Commission as perpetually disqualified to hold public office because of their repeated failure to file their SOCE after elections.

"We have always said that the Barangay is where the public directly experiences our government.  Therefore, our frontline public officials must be sterling exemplars of upright, law-abiding citizens to the public whom they pledge to serve," Jimenez said.


Section 14 of RA 7166 requires the filing of SOCE, and failure to do so prohibits winning candidates from entering upon the duties of their office until they have complied.

The commission of a second or subsequent failure to file the SOCE subjects the offender to perpetual disqualification to hold public office. [William Depasupil, The Manila Times]