Comelec to ask poll bets who didn’t file SOCE within deadline to explain

ELECTIONS (Composite image from INQUIRER stock photos)

MANILA, Philippines — Candidates in the 2025 midterm polls who failed to submit their statement of contributions and expenditures (SOCE) will receive a letter from the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

The letter will ask them to explain why they failed to comply with the mandate.

Comelec chairman George Erwin Garcia gave this information in a press conference on Thursday.

Garcia maintained that they will likely no longer accept SOCEs beyond the schedule they initially implemented.

June 11 marked the last day for candidates and political parties to submit their SOCE.

“More or less, we will not accept applications that exceed the deadline or deadline for SOCE. They might receive a letter from the Political and Finance Department of the Comelec [and] be asked why they failed to do so,” Garcia said.

According to the Comelec chair, failure to submit SOCE has an appropriate administrative fine.

Local officials, for an instance, are required to submit to the Department of  Interior and Local Government a certification that they submitted their SOCE to the Comelec before they can assume their posts.

“Our fines range from 5,000 to 10,000. So that’s what the Commission usually imposes,” said Garcia.

“And let’s remember that some may say that it’s only a small amount so they’ll just pay the fine,” he noted.

“But there are also many who did not file two consecutive SOCEs and the Supreme Court says that if you do not file a SOCE for two consecutive elections, that can be grounds for perpetual disqualification,” he cautioned.

Data from the Comelec as of 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday showed that a total of 61 senatorial candidates, 25 political parties, and 141 party lists have submitted their SOCE./apl