The COMELEC today inked a memorandum of agreement with the Department of the Interior and Local Government, to ensure that only election winners who have properly filed their Statements of Contributions and Expenditures with the COMELEC will be able to assume office. Under the terms of the agreement, the DILG will require elected officials to present a certification from the COMELEC as proof that they have satisfactorily complied with the filing requirement.
COMELEC Chairman Sixto Brillantes emphasized that the terms of the agreement would be enforced in the 2013 elections while DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo hailed the COMELEC for coming up with a way to control spending by election candidates. Because of the strict implementation of the requirement to file Statements of Contributions and Expenditures, candidates will find it more difficult to over-spend knowing that they would be called to account. “There will be a big hindrance for them,” Secretary Robredo said, because they know that under-reporting will be apparent. Elected officials who make false declarations on their Statements would be liable for “perjury, at least,” the DILG Secretary added.
The Agreement will cover only local elected positions, from Governor down to Municipal Council member. COMELEC Commissioner Christian Robert Lim assured the public that similar memoranda of agreement would be entered into with the leadership of the Senate and the House of Representatives to cover newly elected members of Congress.
The Memorandum of Agreement was signed by Chairman Brillantes and Commissioner Lim for the COMELEC, and by Secretary Jesse Robredo and Dir. Ariel Tanangonan for the DILG.