IN THE MAY 2013 elections, 33 candidates aspired to be called senators of the Republic, members of an elite leadership that would help craft the laws of the land.
But what do you do with candidates, both winning or losing, who apparently do not even bother to follow the same laws that they themselves would have helped craft if they had won the post.
In its latest offering, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism looked at whether the 33 candidates and their political parties in the 2013 senatorial race had bothered to follow the simple rules set by the Bureau of Internal Revenue. As people or entities who may receive campaign donations from contributors, the candidates are required to register as witholding agents of the BIR. They are also required to issue official receipts to campaign donors.
These are just some of the laws and regulations that those aspiring for high political office must follow. The PCIJ however discovered that many of the candidates either ignored these regulations, or failed to comply with the law.
For example, the PCIJ found that 13 senatorial candidates did not even register with the BIR as witholding agents. These included winning candidates Alan Peter Cayetano, Gregorio Honasan, Loren Legarda, Grace Poe, and Cynthia Villar.
As well, four political parties did not register with the BIR as witholding agents, including the Kapatiran Party, Bangon Pilipinas, Democratic Party of the Philippines, and the Makabayan Party. The Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino only registered with the BIR on June 13, a month after the elections.
As well, the PCIJ found that there are still some grey areas in the BIR rules that need to be clarified if the Commission on Elections is to enforce campaign finance laws strictly.
The story was produced by the research team of the PCIJ, headed by Research Director Karol M. Ilagan. The findings of the group were also presented to the public in a public forum on Friday in Quezon City. The story caps a series of stories by the PCIJ on campaign finance in the 2013 elections. These stories will all form part of a book on campaign finance in the Philippines that will be published by the PCIJ with assistance from the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES).
For his part, Commission on Elections Commissioner Luie Guia lauded the PCIJ series on campaign finance, saying these stories have assisted the Comelec in enforcing the rules on money politics.
Guia stressed that the commission has just begun enforcing more strictly the laws on campaign finance, and these stories are instrumental in assisting the public, the political parties, the candidates, and civil society organizations through the learning curve. Guia said that many of these laws have largely been ignored by the government and the political parties in the past, and it was only in 2013 that the Comelec took a longer and more serious look at these laws.
In particular, Guia said that the PCIJ story on compliance with BIR rules on campaign donations is important because so many people profit during elections. However, it appears that these profits are not reflected in any way in the revenue collections of the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
“As we all realize, the Gross National Product of the country goes up during election season because of the expenditures,” Guia said. “However, the tax collections just remain constant.”
For his part, Liberal Party legal counsel Raul Daza called on the Comelec to hold seminar workshops for both candidates and political parties long before the election season starts. Daza said this is the best way to minimize the number of violations of election laws.
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” Daza said during the forum, “To the lowest possible level, perhaps we can have workshop seminars long before the elections para malaman kung ano ang required in terms of election financing in order to minimize violations.”
PCIJ Executive Director Malou Mangahas said that while the PCIJ had noted gaps, violations, and errors of compliance with campaign finance laws, what was more important was the fact that both government and the candidates were taking steps forward on the matter of campaign finance.
For example, Mangahas said that while the Comelec would certainly be unable to enforce campaign finance laws on all 800,000 candidates in the last barangay elections, several barangay candidates still bothered to file their campaign finance papers.
“There is a new culture and a new awareness,” Mangahas said. “We can all do well with more transparent and accountable elections.”
Read the PCIJ story:
5 new senators, 8 losing bets did not register with BIR