Comelec to closely monitor gov’t agencies exempted from spending ban

Comelec Chair George Erwin Garcia —INQUIRER.net/Noy Morcoso

MANILA, Philippines — Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chair George Erwin Garcia on Tuesday called on government agencies to properly exercise their exemption from the poll spending ban.

According to Garcia, the poll body will be closely monitoring government agencies that are exempted from the spending ban to assess if they are properly executing their projects.

“To the government agencies, now that we have given you exemptions, exercise the exemption properly to distribute the services fair and equal whether someone is a supporter of a certain candidate or not,” Garcia said in an interview with the media.

READ: Comelec exempts 9 DOLE programs from poll spending ban

The Comelec on Monday said that it granted the request of Department of Labor and Employment Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma to exclude the agency’s nine programs from Section 261 (v)(2) of the Omnibus Election Code, which prohibits the use of public funds for social welfare and services during the election period.

READ: Comelec stops 253 barangay execs from taking office over vote-buying

Garcia said that the social services should not be used to exclude voters that are not supporters of a certain political aspirant.

“We will always be watching. Lahat ng submissions niyo na nirerequire na periodically isubmit and we’ll always analyze and we will always see to it that it deserves to be given support from the government,” Garcia added.

Garcia said that those who will be proven to be using the government projects for their own interest can face possible election offense. “Because once someone filed a report that the projects are being used for politics, and they are given to a certain group of people because they are supporters, we can withdraw the exemption anytime. The exemption is not absolute.”

Garcia also encouraged concerned citizens to file reports on possible violations of the spending ban, emphasizing that they should not be scared in doing so.

“We have a Kontra Bigay committee and we want to look into the abuse of state resources because the government funds should not be used for own interest,” Garcia noted.

The Comelec chairman shared that concerned citizens can file a report to the agency to question their distribution of services and projects and make sure that the Comelec is informed of the action.