Many barangay, SK bets in city fail to submit expense reports
Many of the candidates in the synchronized barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections in Iloilo City failed to submit reports of their election expenses required by the Commission on Elections.
In Iloilo City, the City Election Office received only 800 reports as of Tuesday out of the 7,375 candidates during the October 25 elections.
There were 438 candidates for punong barangay and 4,166 for kagawad. Meanwhile, 464 ran for the position of SK chairman while 2,307 for SK council member.
Assistant Election Officer Jonathan Sayno said they expect the number to increase on the last day of submission on Wednesday.
As of Thursday, submission already reached about 85 percent, he said.
Sayno said there is no extension for the submission of the expense report.
Before the deadline, he said they have been reminding candidates to follow the COMELEC rules to avoid having to pay the administrative fine ranging from P1,000 to P30,000 for the first offense, and up to P60,000 for the second offense.
Winning candidates who fail to submit their expense report shall be penalized with administrative fines. They will not also be allowed to assume office.
A candidate is not allowed to spend for his election campaign more than P3 per person in the barangay where he or she seeks election.
Within 10 days after the election, a candidate must file his statement of expenses with the local elections officer, according to the COMELEC rules.*
