EDITORIAL - A lid on campaign spending

The timing was unfortunate, coming a day after a prominent member of the clan delivered a privilege speech against the administration. Yet the message should resonate among all elective officials and prospective candidates: Emilio Ramon “ER” Ejercito cannot continue serving as governor of Laguna because he spent more than allowed by law in his election campaign.

Ejercito, a nephew of former President Joseph Estrada and cousin of Senators Jinggoy and Joseph Victor, is expected to appeal his disqualification by the First Division of the Commission on Elections. The division determined that Ejercito spent P20 million for his campaign, most of it for television advertisements, when the Omnibus Election Code limited him to just P3 for each of Laguna’s 1.5 million voters, or about P4.5 million.

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes said the decision showed that the poll body meant business in enforcing campaign finance rules. He should hope that the Supreme Court would not again reverse the order, as the tribunal has done in several other attempts by the Comelec to introduce reforms in Philippine elections.

As it is, campaign finance rules are so limited and Comelec enforcement spotty. Ad placements in mass media can be monitored, but the Comelec can rarely keep track of expenditures for campaign materials such as posters, streamers and giveaways like t-shirts and pens.

Even more difficult for the Comelec is verifying the accuracy of statements of campaign contributions. Receipts are not given for such donations and the Comelec has only the word of the candidate or party on the exact amounts and sources of funding. Distribution of funds by candidates or parties to local political leaders is mostly done in cash. With no paper trail, it is also difficult for the Comelec to stop vote-buying.

In the case of Ejercito, the Comelec is showing that its hands are not completely tied in enforcing campaign finance rules. As in the ongoing probe into the pork barrel scandal, the Comelec should see to it there would be no sacred cows in its effort to regulate campaign spending.