EDITORIAL - Useless laws, funny laws

It would be interesting to find out how much campaign expenses candidates in the May 13 elections would be willing to admit on paper. Whether or not they won, candidates are required by law to submit a sworn statement of these expenses within a month after the polls.

At the time this was written, only six candidates for various positions in the whole of Cebu have filed the required statements. Needless to say, none of the six breached the spending cap set forth by law.

Under the law, a candidate may spend only P3 per voter in the place where he is running. The party to which the candidate belongs to may also spend P5 on his behalf, for a total of P8 per voter. An independent candidate is restricted to spending only P5 per voter.

If statements of assets, liabilities, and net worth, which all government officials and employees are required to submit every year, are any measure, no candidate is expected to breach the mandated campaign spending cap.

Not that it matters, though. Even if candidates do own up to their actual expenses, what the law provides as penalties is a mere slap on the wrist. A violation of the law only carries a liability of between P1,000 to P30,000 in fines -- less than what one pays for an advertisement.

Seeing the uselessness of some laws, maybe it would be far better if they are forthwith scrapped. That way, nobody makes a travesty of any law, mockery being far worse than violation itself as it reduces the dignity of an entire nation.

Besides, the law imposing a spending cap on election campaign expenditures is ridiculous, considering how it contradicts the Comelec's other regulations governing the qualifications of candidates.

Look, one of the reasons why the Comelec disqualifies a candidate is because of that candidate's supposed inability to mount a credible campaign. By that, the Comelec means he has no money to effectively promote himself.

But if the Comelec disqualifies a candidate for not having the money to mount a credible campaign, why is it stopping the moneyed candidates it qualified for having the ability to mount a credible campaign from spending as much as they are able or willing to spend?