Category: Campaign Finance

Wealth Check: RODRIGO DUTERTE

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By The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

PCIJ. RODRIGO DUTERTE SALN Timeline, may 2016

IN HIS latest SALN for the year 2015, presidential frontrunner and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte declared a net worth for 2015 of only P23,514,569.93, or a slight P1.54-million increase in his declared net worth in 2014.

Duterte’s cash on hand/in bank, according to his latest SALN, was just P14,839,69.93, as of Dec. 31, 2015.

The earliest SALN Duterte had filed that is on PCIJ’s archives is for the year 1997, in which he declared a net worth of only P897,792.

In an earlier report this week on Duterte’s SALNs, PCIJ had noted, among other things, that Duterte’s net worth and “cash on hand/in bank” have charted an upward trek in the last two decades, save for one year.

But recent press interviews with Duterte have revealed a few more details previously unknown about his wealth, or which do not seem to be included in his SALN filings.

For one, Duterte told reporters last week that he has a dollar savings account with “about $5,000,” money that he said he had saved from an overseas trip he took many years ago. No dollar values in his “cash on hand/in bank” had ever been enrolled in Duterte’s SALNs.

For another, Duterte this week appeared in the late night TV program of his long-time friend and now ardent campaign supporter, Pastor Apollo Quiboloy. During the program, Duterte said Quiboloy, founder of The Kingdom of God, had given him three properties and two cars while he was mayor of Davao City.

“When I was mayor, Pastor bought three properties,” said Duterte. “He said, ‘I will buy properties for your children because if anything happens to you because of your work, if you die….'”

He said Quiboloy had also given him a Nissan Safari and a Ford Expedition.

The properties that Quiboloy had bought for him included, according to Duterte, a house and lot at Woodridge Park in Ma-a, Davao City, and another house and lot at Royal Pines Subdivision in Matina, Davao City.

Duterte did not specify the year – or years – when he became a beneficiary of Quiboloy’s generosity.

No Nissan Safari or Ford Expedition appears in Duterte’s latest SALN, although he listed a Nissan Patrol in his 2011 SALN. In his 2015 SALN, Duterte declared owning only two vehicles: a Toyota RAV 4 and a “Volks Sedan.” Duterte, however, had also listed “cars/motorcycles” in various SALN filings through the years, with total values that ranged from P1.2 million to P2.75 million.

Meanwhile, in his 2015 SALN, Duterte listed as his personal properties three lots in Bagong Aplaya, Davao City that he said he purchased between 1995 and 1997. But a second list of “other assets and personal properties, including those of the spouse and children below 18 years old,” Duterte enrolled a lot in Ma-a and a house and lot in Matina among other assets. He said he purchased the two properties in 1997-98.

Yet still on another page of his 2015 SALN, Duterte listed a third set of real properties that he noted were “purchased through the exclusive funds of (the mother of his 11-year-old daughter), Cielito S. Avancena.”

This third set of properties includes three lots — two agricultural and one residential — located in Matina, Malagos, and Catigan, all in Davao City; and two house and lots in Matina; Davao City.

Duterte valued this final set of real properties at P3.08 million, by acquisition cost.

A Ma-a residential lot first appeared in Duterte’s SALN in 1998, then in 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2005.

In 2006, his SALN had this note: “All other lots previously declared were already transferred to the three children and to Elizabeth Zimmerman on May 24, 2006.”

(Zimmerman is Duterte’s first wife. In 1998, she filed a petition to nullify their marriage, and two years later, a Pasig trial court granted her plea. They have children, now all grown up: Paolo, Sara, and Sebastian.)

Duterte’s 2006 SALN, though, listed a new residential lot asset in Ma-a that he said was purchased in 1997. He did not put an acquisition cost for it, but imputed current fair market value of P42,570.

In his 2007 SALN, two residential lots in Ma-a are listed. Again, Duterte did not put any acquisition cost, but put a fair market value of P42,570 and P27,000 respectively. He also said one was purchased in1997 and the other in 1999.

In 2008, Duterte declared real assets of P4.45 million, with an annex listing 15 pieces of real assets — all purchased — from 1996 to 2002, to represent “real properties and vehicles of declarant/spouse/declarant’s children below 18 years of age living in the household of declarant, regardless of amount.”

Among the 15 real assets on this list are two residential lots in Ma-a, and two in Matina.

On the SALN column for “kind of real property,” for the Matina lots, he put the name of his child by his second wife, with the notation “Residential Land.” At the time, the child was four years old.

The 2008 SALN indicates that one of the Matina assets was purchased in 2005 and had an acquisition cost of P350,000. The other was bought in 2007, but no acquisition cost appears in the document.

Two Ma-a and two Matina properties are also listed in Duterte’s SALN for the following year. The Matina lots are still in the child’s name, but this time around, one already had a different “mode of acquisition” entry: not “purchased,” but “exchanged.”

Properties in Ma-a and Matina with the same descriptions and notations would also appear in his 2011 and 2014 SALNs.

Aside from Quiboloy’s “gifts” of vehicles and pieces of property, however, Duterte has at least one more piece of real estate that should have appeared in his SALNs yet seems to be missing.

In recent weeks, Duterte has been fighting off accusations that he has bank accounts through which hundreds of millions of pesos have passed, as well as being the alleged owner of some 40 pieces of real estate. One of those properties – a townhouse in San Juan, Metro Manila — was apparently used as the address to open one of Duterte’s bank accounts in question.

Last week, Duterte’s youngest son Sebastian or Baste, confirmed to the Philippine Daily Inquirer that he had lived in the townhouse “when I was 13 years old, when I started schooling at San Beda. I did not know at the time that the property was in my name.”

Duterte was then a member of the House of Representatives but has not, then as now, declared the San Juan townhouse in his SALNs through the years.

Sebastian Duterte is now 28 years old and a father himself. Among Duterte’s grown-up children, he is the only political holdout, apparently choosing to surf and engage in business than having a seat in city hall.

In contrast, Duterte’s eldest son Paolo or Pulong and eldest daughter Sara or Inday Sara have already spent considerable time in politics.

Sara first served vice mayor to her father the mayor from 2007 to 2010. She later became mayor from 2010 to 2013 of Davao City, an apparent stand-in for Duterte, who had reached his three-term limit by then. Duterte himself became his daughter’s vice mayor.

In 2013, Duterte ran again and won again as mayor, with son Paolo as vice mayor.

Duterte (1)

 

Both Paolo and Sara Duterte first assumed political posts in 2007 – Paolo as barangay captain and Sara as vice mayor. Based on their SALNs, both siblings were already involved in a few businesses by the time they entered politics. Aside from these, though, Sara and Paolo appear to have worked mostly in politics (although Sara, a lawyer, had a brief stint working at the Supreme Court).

Paolo’s official profile lists his work history thus: barangay captain of Catalunan Grande, Davao City from 2007 to 2013, and vice mayor from 2013. He has five children aged four to 22 years old by wife January Tabar Navares.

In his SALN for 2013, Paolo declared his net worth at P17,137,800 — assets of P21,837,800 minus liabilities of exactly P4.7 million.

A year later, in his SALN for 2014, his net worth rose by exactly P150,000 only to P17,287,800 — assets of P24,847,800 minus liabilities of exactly P7 million.

Even while he was serving as vice mayor, Paolo maintained business interests in and financial connections with five entities based in Davao City, one in Manila, and one other in Laguna.

These are:

• Grand MD Business Dev. Corporation, Davao City, as of 2007;
• Jolly General Foods Corp., Davao City, 2007;
• Server Cuisine Corp., Sta. Rosa, Laguna, 2006;
• Boarding House, Davao City, 2009;
• Chinese Gen Bee Foods Corp., Manila, 2013;
• Long Water, Catalunan Grande, Davao City, 2014; and
• Long Tuna, Catalunan Grande, Davao City, 2014.

Sara, for her part, declared in 2007 SALN a net worth of only P7.25 million — assets of P9.25 million minus liabilities of exactly P2 million.

The next year, 2008, her wealth more than doubled with her net worth rising to P18.49 million — assets of P20.27 million minus liabilities of 1,775,000.

In her 2009 SALN, Sara reflected a decline by P212,000 of her net worth: P18.28 million — assets of P20.17 million minus liabilities of P1.89 million.

As mayor in 2011, Sara’s SALN showed a dip in her net worth by nearly P4 million, on account largely of bigger liabilities. She put her net worth that year at P14.27 million — assets of P21.82 million minus liabilities of P7.55 million.

In 2007, Vice Mayor Sara had business interests and financial connections only in three entities:

• Davao Emerging Taipan Corporation, Davao City, as of 2004;
• Davao Bounty Times Food Corporation, Davao City, 2007; and
• City Hall King Chow Foods Corporation, Davao City, 2007.

By 2011, Mayor Sara had acquired, apart from the three listed above, business interest in four more entities:

• SGT Fortune Horse Corporation, Davao City, 2010;
• CYKT Inc., Davao City, 2010;
• Zelta Matiem Salon, Davao City, 2011; and
• 3 Kids Inc., Davao City, 2011.

Sara married fellow lawyer Manases Carpio, son of Court of Appeals Justice Agnes Reyes Carpio, in 2007. The couple has two children.

All told, by 2014, the combined net worth of the three Dutertes in public office would have reached P53,529,881 — Rodrigo’s P21.97 million, Paolo’s P17.28 million (2014 SALN), and Sara’s P14.27 million (2011 SALN). — PCIJ, MAY 2016
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For details, check out PCIJ’s Money Politics Online

Wealth Check: GRACE POE

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By The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

PCIJ. GRACE POE. SALN Timeline, may 2016

ACCORDING to the few SALNs she had filed in her short stint in public office – as chairperson of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) in 2010-2012, and as senator since 2013 – Grace Poe’s wealth story is one of unexplained progressively declining riches.

She started off with a net worth of P152.53 million in 2010. This slipped to P132.25 million in 2011, recovered to P148.9 million in December 2013, then skidded again to P89.46 million in 2014.

What is puzzling about Poe’s wealth is this: She has reduced the values of her real and other assets by a third to half in the last four years, even as she also managed to reduce her debts by a fourth during the same period.

In short, Poe has been declaring much less assets but also much less loans, and a net worth cut to half in four years alone. Why all the numbers in her SALN covering both her assets and her liabilities are going down, is an intractable equation.

During her first year in public office, Poe declared a mix of inherited (from her late father Fernando Poe Jr.’s estate) and acquired real properties worth P134.4 million, personal and other properties of P63.45 million, and liabilities of P45.31 million.

Four years later in 2014, all her numbers hit the doldrums for reasons not quite clear in her SALNs.

Last year, Poe put her real properties – all residential units – to be worth P95 million only (down P39.4 million or 29 percent less in value). She did not declare owning any commercial, agricultural, or mixed-use real estate.

In 2014, too, Poe’s personal and other properties also declined to P31.9 million (down P31.55 million or 49.7 percent less in value). Nonetheless, the amount included, she said, P22 million in investments in such entities as:

• JSP Realty and Development Corp.;
• 226 Wilson Development, Corp.;
• Chambrant L. Holdings Corp.;
• The Health Cube Rehabilitation and Wellness Center;
• AB Design Studio and Trading Corp.;
• Filinvest Land Inc.;
• Sunlife Property Balanced Fund;
• San Miguel Corporation A;
• 226 Wilson Development, Corp.; and
• FPJ Productions, Inc.

To make matters more confusing, in 2014, Poe’s indebtedness also declined from P45.31 million in 2010 to just P37.4 million, down nearly P8 million or 20 percent in a year’s time.

In her SALN for 2015, Poe declared a net worth of P89,118,760.02, assets of P125 million, and liabilities of P36 million.

As of Dec. 31, 2015, she said she owned a total of 30 real properties, including 14 pieces of mostly residential real properties she purchased from 1992 to 2010 with aggregate acquisition cost of P95,002,568.81.

The 14 included two house and lots in California, U.S.A. — the first valued at P27,995,500 that Poe said she purchased in 1992, and the second valued at P15,074,500 that Poe said she purchased in 2008.

Poe gave only the “acquisition cost” of the two properties and left blank the columns for their “assessed value” and “current fair market value.”

In addition, Poe listed 16 other pieces of real assets — three commercial in nature, two agricultural, and 11 residential — for which she assigned zero acquisition cost.

She said all these 16 additional real properties were “inheritance” passed on to her in 2004, the year her father Fernando Poe Jr. died.

Aside from real assets, Poe declared “personal and other properties” to be worth P30,656,423.16 in all, as of last yearend.

The amount included: a checking account she opened in 2011 with P862,099.92 balance; her husband’s checking account opened in 2006 with P474,183.57 balance; shares of stocks in nine various business entities acquired from 2006 to 2012; six vehicles; a “money market account” worth P96,415.17; and a foreign currency savings account opened in 2011 with P202,270.19.

Among her investments, Poe said she acquired in 2012 “shares of stocks (in) San Miguel Corporation A, by subscription — 8,500 shares.” Her SALN, however, had this notation for her stocks in San Miguel Corp.: “Divestment of stock began 19 APR 2016.”

Again by “inheritance,” Poe said she had shares of stocks in two more entities: P7,375,000 in 226 Wilson Development Corp. (7,375 shares valued at P1,000 per share), and in P2,235,772, at face value, in FPJ Productions, Inc.
PCIJ. Poe SALN may 2016

Poe’s latest SALN did not enroll values for furniture and appliances, books, paintings, jewelry and other entries that typically appear in the SALNs of many other public officials.

Minus the real properties and shares of stocks that she declared to be “inheritance” for which she assigned zero acquisition cost, the senator’s total assets (real assets plus personal properties) amounted to P125,658,991.97.

Her net worth for 2015 came up to just P89.1 million because she had total liabilities of P36,540,231.95.

These liabilities included, she said, subscription balance payable to JSP Realty & Development Corp, 226 Wilson Development Corp., and Chambrandt L. Holdings Corp.; a lot installment payable; two automobile loan payable; and a personal loan from Jesusa S. Poe of P17,760,000.

Popularly known by her screen name Susan Roces, Jesusa S. Poe is the senator’s mother and the widow of Fernando Poe Jr.

Poe’s SALN for 2015 made two disclosures in an extra page: “P451,661.64, running balance of Cash in Bank as of 31 December 2015” of her minor children; and “P4,780,237.70, running balance of Cash in Bank as of 31 December 2015” of Jesusa S. Poe’s aggregate savings/checking account in which the senator said she is a “secondary/co-signee.”

Poe said she has been an officer/shareholder from 2006 to 2009 in FPJ Productions, JPS Realty and Development Corp., and 226 Wilson Development Corp.; and a shareholder in AB Design Studios and Trading Corp. and The Health Cube Rehabilitation and Training Center.

Poe said her husband Teodoro ‘Neil’ V. Llamanzares is also an officer/shareholder in Chambrant L. Holdings Corp. — PCIJ, May 2016
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For details, check out PCIJ’s Money Politics Online

Wealth Check: MAR ROXAS

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By The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

PCIJ. MAR ROXAS SALN Timeline, may 2016

MANUEL ‘MAR’ ROXAS II, scion of the old-rich Araneta and Roxas clans, is the wealthiest of the five candidates for president, according to the 14 annual SALN filings he had submitted.

A latecomer in politics, Roxas used to work as a fund manager in New York and travelled between Manila and the United States from 1986 to 1992. He finally decided to settle in the country after his younger brother Gerardo ‘Dinggoy’Roxas Jr., then Capiz’s 1st District Representative in Congress, died of colon cancer in 1993 at age 33.

Dinggoy’s death got Mar started in politics. Mar ran and won in the special election conducted to choose Dinggoy’s replacement, was voted congressman again from 1995 to 1998, and senator from 2004 to 2009.

Between periods, he served as Cabinet secretary to three Presidents: as Trade and Industry Secretary to Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (1998-2002), and as Transportation and Communications and later Interior and Local Government Secretary to Benigno S. Aquino III (2011-October 2015).

Roxas’s SALN for 1995 showed his effective net worth to be P23.4 million (none indicated in real properties, P25.9 million in personal and other properties, and P2.4 million in liabilities). He did not add the amounts in his 1995 filing.

In 1996, however, Roxas enrolled P24.67 million in liabilities, the same value for his real properties, and slightly more or P35.91 million in personal and other properties. The net worth that results is a much lower P35.02 million a year later.

His net worth reached its peak in 2011, a year after he lost the vice presidential race to Jejomar Binay in 2010. This was when Roxas declared a net worth of P183.1 million consisting of P86.44 million in real properties, P174.14 million in personal and other properties, and also P77.48 million in liabilities.

In 2009, Roxas married ABS-CBN TV and radio anchor Korina Sanchez. He has a grown-up son, Paolo Gerardo Z. Roxas, by a former girlfriend, 1971 Miss Young International Philippines Maricar Zaldarriaga.

Roxas’s latest SALN for 2014 reflected a lower value of P81.24 million for real properties, but bigger values for personal and other properties (P202.71 million), and a bigger loans portfolio of P81.22 million.

He closed the year with a P202.08 million net worth, his biggest in 14 years since he entered public office in 1993.

Of the six candidates for president, Roxas is the most connected to a web of business and financial interests inherited and acquired from as far back as the ’80s. The Araneta and Roxas families have vast land and properties, as well as investments in agriculture, real estate, property leasing and development, and mining.

In 2014 SALN, Roxas declared that he has stocks or membership shares in, or has been a shareholder or incorporator of 32 various business entities. These are:

• AB Agricultural and Business Corporation;
• Baguio Country Club Corporation;
• Calima International;
• Road, Baguio City;
• Civil Air Rural Transport System, Inc.;
• Club Filipino, Inc.;
• Financing Corporation of the Philippines;
• Harmony Assets Holdings;
• Jollibee Foods Corporation;
• Kauswagan Development Corporation;
• Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company-Class A;
• Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company-Class B;
• Ma-ao Sugar Central Co., Inc.;
• Manila Doctors, Inc.;
• Manila Golf and Country Club, Inc.;
• Manila Mining Corporation-Class A;
• Manila Mining Corporation-Class B;
• Marinduque Mining and Industrial Corporation;
• Mindanao Mother Lake Mines, Inc.;
• Myapo Prawn Farm;
• Northstar Capital, Inc;.
• Pards and Mills Corporation ;
• Philex Mining Corporation-Class A;
• Philex Mining Corporation-Class B;
• Private Development Corporation of the Philippines;
• Samar Mining Company, Inc.;
• Seafront Petroleum and Mineral Resources-Class A;
• Seafront Petroleum and Mineral Resources-Class B;
• Santa Elena Golf Club;
• Talisay-Silay Milling Co., Inc.;
• Wack-Wack Golf and Country Club; and
• Western Minolco Corporation.

In his first available SALN for the year 1993, Roxas had declared business interest in only five entities, all family-owned. These are:

• Northstar Capital, Inc., located at No. 151 Paseo de Roxas, Pasay Road, Makati, Metro Manila, since June 1990;
• Myapo Prawn Farm Corporation, Baybay, Roxas City, since July 1988;
• Kauswagan Development Corporation, 17th Floor Aurora Tower, Araneta Center, Cubao, Quezon City, since August 1980;
• Progressive Development Corporation,17th Floor Aurora Tower, Araneta Center, Cubao, Quezon City, since May 1986; and
• Atok Big Wedge Mining Co., Inc., 17th Floor Aurora Tower, Araneta Center, Cubao, Quezon City, since January 1991.

PCIJ. Roxas SALN may 2016

Roxas’s SALN story shares a similar trajectory to that taken by Binay’s. His net worth values showed significant upticks before or after an election year — from P12.7 million in 1993 to P23.8 million in 1994; from P23.47 million in 1995 to P35.02 million in 1996; from P51.2 million in 1998 to P58.2 million in 1999; from P50.54 million in 2004 to P P75.78 million in 2005; and from P62.93 million in 2009 to P183.10 million in 2011.

But by far the biggest jump in his net worth occurred during his stint as Cabinet secretary of Aquino. His net worth of P109.73 million in his 2011 SALN nearly doubled to P203.36 million in 2012. The latter amount includes an increase of Roxas’s assets by P86 million, or from P191.43 million in 2011 to P277.35 million in 2012.

For 2009, the year before he ran and lost the race for the vice presidency to Binay, Roxas’s declared net worth was P62.93 million — assets of P124.63 million (including real properties of P25.96 million and personal properties of P98.66 million), minus liabilities of P61.70 million.

He took a year-long leave of absence from public office but when he returned in 2011 to serve as President Aquino’s Transportation and Communication secretary, Roxas’s wealth also made a virtual comeback. For the year 2011, Roxas declared a net worth of P183.10 million — assets of P260.58 million (including P86.44 million in real properties and P174.14 million in personal properties) and liabilities of P77.47 million.

The next year, 2012, proved to be even brighter for Roxas, wealth-wise. This was when he reported his net worth at P203.35 million — P277.34 million in assets (including P81.24 million in real properties and P196.10 million in personal properties), and liabilities of P73.98 million.

But the year his wealth shone the brightest was in 2013, even as Roxas, by then the Interior and Local Government secretary, was swamped with work assisting typhoon, earthquake, and other victims of calamities, man-made and natural.

For the year 2013, Roxas reported his biggest net worth yet at P211.02 million — assets of P283.52 million (including real properties worth P81.24 million and personal properties of P202.27 million), and liabilities of P72.49 million. — PCIJ, May 2016
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For details, check out PCIJ’s Money Politics Online

95 SOCE non-filers running again, despite ‘perpetual disqualification’

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By Jake Crisologo

THEY WISH to lead the nation but refuse to comply even with the most basic rules: Report to the Commission on Elections how much money they raised and spent in their campaign for public office, one month after election day. In fact, they have mocked the rules not just once but twice, and for some, thrice, in elections past.

At least 873 candidates who ran for national and local posts from the 2007 to the 2013 elections should be banned for life from running again, according to the Commission on Elections’ Campaign Finance Office (CFO). This is because these candidates had not filed their Statement of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCE) in the last three elections.

PCIJ. Non-filers by region. may 2016

Indeed, while they may contest the ruling of the CFO, for all intents and purposes, their names remain enrolled in the Comelec’s list of candidates for “perpetual disqualification.” Win or lose, the Comelec has ruled that all candidates and parties must file SOCEs.

Yet at least 95 of these seem truly incorrigible, and are running again in the May 2016 elections. They include one candidate for senator, eight for district representative, eight for governor, at least 33 for mayor, 11 for vice mayor, and 34 for councilor of various cities and towns.

Resolution No. 9991, the Omnibus Rules on Campaign Finance that Comelec issued on Oct. 2, 2015, states that on its own, the CFO “may file petitions to disqualify” a candidate, including for failure to submit his or her SOCE “in relation to at least two elections.”

In that situation, Rule 13 of Resolution No. 9991, spells out the penalty as being “perpetual disqualification to hold public office.”

Commissioner Christian Robert S. Lim, head of Comelec’s CFO, concedes, though, that the delinquents may still turn to “due process” as their final recourse and contest or appeal his office’s decision.

Mostly local bets

Comelec data show that by position, the list of delinquent candidates is dominated by candidates to local positions. They make up 75 percent of the total.

At least 680 have sought seats as councilor in various Sangguniang Bayan or Municipal Council (530 candidates), Sangguniang Panglungsod or City Council (150 candidates), and Sangguniang Panlalawigan or Provincial Council (120 candidates).

Another 123 had run for vice mayor, 116 for mayor, 11 for vice governor, 19 for governor, and seven for membership in the regional assembly of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao or ARMM.

In addition, 41 of these delinquent candidates had aspired to become members of the House of Representatives, and one, to be senator.

The total number of candidates by position at 1,100 is higher than actual number of individuals because some of the same candidates had run for different positions across election years.

A fourth from ARMM

Interestingly, by regional spread, one in four of the delinquent candidates, or 212, came from ARMM. But defiance of election law seems to be an epidemic across all the regions of the Philippines.

Other regions with delinquent candidates include: CALABARZON, 94 candidates; Davao Region, 90; Cordillera Administrative Region, 81; Central Luzon, 60; SOCCSKSARGEN, 60; National Capital Region, 59; Western Visayas, 36; Ilocos Region, 28; Cagayan Valley, 33; Central Visayas, 25; MIMAROPA, 24; Eastern Visayas, 21; Northern Mindanao, 19; Zamboanga Peninsula, 17; Bicol Region,16; and Caraga, seven.

(The delinquents from the relatively new Negros Island Region were included in the counts from Western and Central Visayas or Negros Occidental and Oriental. These two now make up Negros Island Region, which was formed only on May 19, 2015 by virtue of Executive Order No. 183.)

The count per region and per province of 882 candidates is closer to the calculated number of individuals at 873, which was derived from subtracting the number of repeated names for candidates who had run in two or more localities.

A big majority of these delinquent candidates had run as independents, or without any political party affiliation.

From parties of presidents

An interesting picture emerges for a subgroup of 131 delinquent candidates who had run for district representative, governor, and vice governor from the 2007 to the 2013 elections, including 18 candidates running again in the May 2016 elections.

In this subgroup, 87 are independents but a significant number had run as candidates of the national political parties led by the incumbent and former presidents of the country:

* Eleven of the delinquents in this subgroup ran as candidates of the Liberal Party (LP) of President Benigno S. Aquino III;

• Eight from the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) of ousted President Joseph Estrada that is part of the opposition United Nationalist Alliance;

• Six from the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (KAMPI) of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo;

• Seven from the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) party of deposed President Ferdinand Marcos; and

• Five from the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) of former President Fidel Ramos.

PCIJ. Non-filers of SOCE, By Party, may 2016

The more prominent names in the list of delinquents include erstwhile rebel leader Nur Misuari who ran for governor of Sulu province in 2007 and 2010, and again for regional governor of ARMM in 2013. In all three instances, Misuari ran as an independent candidate. And in all three instances, too, he did not file his election spending report.

Yet another is Macario Asistio Jr., who ran for vice mayor in 2010, and mayor in 2013, of Caloocan City, and on both occasions failed to submit his SOCE to the Comelec.

Still a third is Ismael ‘Chuck’ Mathay III, sole son of former long-time Quezon City Mayor Ismael Mathay Jr. Chuck Mathay ran and won as representative of Quezon City’s 2nd District in 2007 and 2010 and, like Asistio, failed to file his SOCE both times.

Running once more

From the roster of delinquent candidates come a few who have again filed their candidacies for various posts in the May 2016 elections. They include

• Kadra Asana Masihul, KBL, Sulu, who ran for provincial governor in 2013, now running for Board Member in the 1st District of Sulu;
• Albert Hans Corvera Palacios, Independent, 4th District Quezon City, who is running for the same position; he ran under the PMP banner in 2013;
• Pablo Camabrejan Villabar, KBL, Davao del Sur, running again for first district representative as an independent as in the 2013 elections;
• Amin Guintawan Sindao, independent, North Cotabato, running again for third district representative;
• Telesforo Magramo Gaan, independent candidate for governor of Romblon;
• Delfina Dorman Bicatulo, independent candidate for governor of Bukidnon;
• Ahmadjan Marogong Abdulcarim, independent candidate for governor of Lanao Del Sur;
• Justo III Hernandez Orros, independent candidate for vice governor of La Union; and
• Morsalim Alap-Polao Binnortominoray, Liberal Party candidate for vice governor of Lanao Del Sur, but independent candidate in 2013.

The lone candidate for senator, Greco Belgica, had challenged the inclusion of his name in the Comelec’s disqualification list when it first came out in December 2015. In a text message, he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer: “I filed and signed my SOCE in 2007 and 2013 so I cannot be charged for not filing my SOCE. Someone must be manipulating the records. The question is who?”

Belgica, Manila city councilor from 2004 to 2007, was a lead petitioner in a case that was filed before the Supreme Court in 2013 questioning the constitutionality of the pork-barrel system.

Weak parties

According to PulseAsia Research President Ronald Holmes, who is also a political science professor at De La Salle University, the presence of a big majority of “independent” candidates in the list of delinquents illustrates the weakness of the political party system in the country.

Notably, too, many of the candidates on the list have shifted from one to another political party across election years. This is consistent, Holmes says, with the culture of “turncoatism” or the relative ease by which politicians affiliate with different, but usually the dominant, political parties, during regime shifts.

“We don’t have substantive political parties in this country,” says Holmes. “They are basically absent. The large number of independents is not surprising and may simply mean that one does not have to be affiliated to run, and maybe even win, during the elections.”

When one considers the dynamics between politicians once they are in office, however, a different picture emerges.

At a recent public forum, Ateneo School of Government Dean Ronald Mendoza tackled political turncoatism by the candidates in regard to their quest for resources during election campaigns.

“On the local level, for example, it would be easier to engage the national government if you are allied with the current dominant party,” Mendoza said. “This can be in terms of resources, like budgets, and approvals for policies and contracts you want in your jurisdiction.”

PCIJ. Non-filers of SOCE, By Position, may 2016

No party discipline

This is not necessarily incongruous to Holmes’s assessment of the weakness of political parties during elections. Holmes even expresses little optimism when asked if political parties should or could be held responsible for policing their members who did not file their SOCEs.

“The parties themselves do not have that discipline,” he says. “Even at the national level, the dominating party is not necessarily strong or unified.”

For instance, after the May 2010 elections, “the Liberal Party was dominant but they couldn’t agree on who among them was supposed to be Senate President,” Holmes points out. “So someone not from the party took the position.”

Juan Ponce Enrile of the Nacionalista Party was elected Senate President in 2010 by a fragile coalition of political parties in the Upper Chamber.

Even the past presidents have had a history of party switching, Holmes says, adding that, “independence” is primarily a legal label than an individuality of thought or principles. Being an independent candidate, he says, simply means one was not formally nominated or affiliated with a party.

In Holmes’s book, it is highly possible that a majority of “independent” candidates on the list of delinquents may have had informal connections with the established political parties.

“They may,” he says. “This is largely determined by the dynamics on the ground and how they engage each other to achieve their goals. Take Grace Poe, for example. She’s currently independent but she may be ‘adopted’ by present political parties in the long run.”

Clans drive politics

But could, or should, delinquent candidates be allowed to run for office again?

Holmes voices concern that other than Comelec, political clans continue to drive the choice of candidates and the results of elections in many parts of the country.

“There are many powerful families and they can take control of representation mechanisms in their territories,” he observes. “The head of a political clan can determine what happens more than any external body, the Commission on Elections included.”

In areas where virulent clans with private armies rule, election officials may be hard put enforcing Comelec’s decision to disqualify delinquent candidates.

Still and all, in October 2015, when Comelec first came out with its initial list of delinquent candidates, CFO head Commissioner Lim had declared the poll body’s commitment to uphold the rule of law.

He told reporters that it was the first time Comelec had spelled out rules on the filing of petitions for disqualification of candidates who had failed to submit election spending reports to the poll body.

But because the rules provide the delinquents the opportunity to file appeals, Comelec can only collect and impose fines on such candidates until the CFO’s decision becomes final and executory.

Schedule of fines

On June 12, 2012, in Resolution No. 9476, Comelec said that for failure to file SOCEs for the first time, candidates, depending on the elective post they had run for, must pay an administrative fine ranging from P1,000 to P30,000, and for the second offense, from P2,000 to P60,000.

That could mean a tidy sum for Comelec – that is, if it does go after the delinquents to collect the fines and the candidates actually pay up.

For the 2013 elections alone, Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista had told reporters that 4,677 or about one in 10 of the candidates who ran for elective positions (net of the party-list groups) had failed to file their SOCEs, as of the deadline of July 2013. Bautista’s estimate is that the poll body could raise up to P52 million in fines from these delinquents.

But until the Comelec’s decision to perpetually bar these candidates from running for public office, becomes final and executory, there is only one, final, true judge and jury on these cases: the Filipino voter. — PCIJ, April 2016
______________________________________________
For details, check out PCIJ’s Money Politics Online

95 SOCE non-filers running again, despite ‘perpetual disqualification’

mcmangahas

By Jake Crisologo

THEY WISH to lead the nation but refuse to comply even with the most basic rules: Report to the Commission on Elections how much money they raised and spent in their campaign for public office, one month after election day. In fact, they have mocked the rules not just once but twice, and for some, thrice, in elections past.

At least 873 candidates who ran for national and local posts from the 2007 to the 2013 elections should be banned for life from running again, according to the Commission on Elections’ Campaign Finance Office (CFO). This is because these candidates had not filed their Statement of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCE) in the last three elections.

PCIJ. Non-filers by region. may 2016

Indeed, while they may contest the ruling of the CFO, for all intents and purposes, their names remain enrolled in the Comelec’s list of candidates for “perpetual disqualification.” Win or lose, the Comelec has ruled that all candidates and parties must file SOCEs.

Yet at least 95 of these seem truly incorrigible, and are running again in the May 2016 elections. They include one candidate for senator, eight for district representative, eight for governor, at least 33 for mayor, 11 for vice mayor, and 34 for councilor of various cities and towns.

Resolution No. 9991, the Omnibus Rules on Campaign Finance that Comelec issued on Oct. 2, 2015, states that on its own, the CFO “may file petitions to disqualify” a candidate, including for failure to submit his or her SOCE “in relation to at least two elections.”

In that situation, Rule 13 of Resolution No. 9991, spells out the penalty as being “perpetual disqualification to hold public office.”

Commissioner Christian Robert S. Lim, head of Comelec’s CFO, concedes, though, that the delinquents may still turn to “due process” as their final recourse and contest or appeal his office’s decision.

Mostly local bets

Comelec data show that by position, the list of delinquent candidates is dominated by candidates to local positions. They make up 75 percent of the total.

At least 680 have sought seats as councilor in various Sangguniang Bayan or Municipal Council (530 candidates), Sangguniang Panglungsod or City Council (150 candidates), and Sangguniang Panlalawigan or Provincial Council (120 candidates).

Another 123 had run for vice mayor, 116 for mayor, 11 for vice governor, 19 for governor, and seven for membership in the regional assembly of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao or ARMM.

In addition, 41 of these delinquent candidates had aspired to become members of the House of Representatives, and one, to be senator.

The total number of candidates by position at 1,100 is higher than actual number of individuals because some of the same candidates had run for different positions across election years.

A fourth from ARMM

Interestingly, by regional spread, one in four of the delinquent candidates, or 212, came from ARMM. But defiance of election law seems to be an epidemic across all the regions of the Philippines.

Other regions with delinquent candidates include: CALABARZON, 94 candidates; Davao Region, 90; Cordillera Administrative Region, 81; Central Luzon, 60; SOCCSKSARGEN, 60; National Capital Region, 59; Western Visayas, 36; Ilocos Region, 28; Cagayan Valley, 33; Central Visayas, 25; MIMAROPA, 24; Eastern Visayas, 21; Northern Mindanao, 19; Zamboanga Peninsula, 17; Bicol Region,16; and Caraga, seven.

(The delinquents from the relatively new Negros Island Region were included in the counts from Western and Central Visayas or Negros Occidental and Oriental. These two now make up Negros Island Region, which was formed only on May 19, 2015 by virtue of Executive Order No. 183.)

The count per region and per province of 882 candidates is closer to the calculated number of individuals at 873, which was derived from subtracting the number of repeated names for candidates who had run in two or more localities.

A big majority of these delinquent candidates had run as independents, or without any political party affiliation.

From parties of presidents

An interesting picture emerges for a subgroup of 131 delinquent candidates who had run for district representative, governor, and vice governor from the 2007 to the 2013 elections, including 18 candidates running again in the May 2016 elections.

In this subgroup, 87 are independents but a significant number had run as candidates of the national political parties led by the incumbent and former presidents of the country:

* Eleven of the delinquents in this subgroup ran as candidates of the Liberal Party (LP) of President Benigno S. Aquino III;

• Eight from the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) of ousted President Joseph Estrada that is part of the opposition United Nationalist Alliance;

• Six from the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (KAMPI) of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo;

• Seven from the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) party of deposed President Ferdinand Marcos; and

• Five from the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) of former President Fidel Ramos.

PCIJ. Non-filers of SOCE, By Party, may 2016

The more prominent names in the list of delinquents include erstwhile rebel leader Nur Misuari who ran for governor of Sulu province in 2007 and 2010, and again for regional governor of ARMM in 2013. In all three instances, Misuari ran as an independent candidate. And in all three instances, too, he did not file his election spending report.

Yet another is Macario Asistio Jr., who ran for vice mayor in 2010, and mayor in 2013, of Caloocan City, and on both occasions failed to submit his SOCE to the Comelec.

Still a third is Ismael ‘Chuck’ Mathay III, sole son of former long-time Quezon City Mayor Ismael Mathay Jr. Chuck Mathay ran and won as representative of Quezon City’s 2nd District in 2007 and 2010 and, like Asistio, failed to file his SOCE both times.

Running once more

From the roster of delinquent candidates come a few who have again filed their candidacies for various posts in the May 2016 elections. They include

• Kadra Asana Masihul, KBL, Sulu, who ran for provincial governor in 2013, now running for Board Member in the 1st District of Sulu;
• Albert Hans Corvera Palacios, Independent, 4th District Quezon City, who is running for the same position; he ran under the PMP banner in 2013;
• Pablo Camabrejan Villabar, KBL, Davao del Sur, running again for first district representative as an independent as in the 2013 elections;
• Amin Guintawan Sindao, independent, North Cotabato, running again for third district representative;
• Telesforo Magramo Gaan, independent candidate for governor of Romblon;
• Delfina Dorman Bicatulo, independent candidate for governor of Bukidnon;
• Ahmadjan Marogong Abdulcarim, independent candidate for governor of Lanao Del Sur;
• Justo III Hernandez Orros, independent candidate for vice governor of La Union; and
• Morsalim Alap-Polao Binnortominoray, Liberal Party candidate for vice governor of Lanao Del Sur, but independent candidate in 2013.

The lone candidate for senator, Greco Belgica, had challenged the inclusion of his name in the Comelec’s disqualification list when it first came out in December 2015. In a text message, he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer: “I filed and signed my SOCE in 2007 and 2013 so I cannot be charged for not filing my SOCE. Someone must be manipulating the records. The question is who?”

Belgica, Manila city councilor from 2004 to 2007, was a lead petitioner in a case that was filed before the Supreme Court in 2013 questioning the constitutionality of the pork-barrel system.

Weak parties

According to PulseAsia Research President Ronald Holmes, who is also a political science professor at De La Salle University, the presence of a big majority of “independent” candidates in the list of delinquents illustrates the weakness of the political party system in the country.

Notably, too, many of the candidates on the list have shifted from one to another political party across election years. This is consistent, Holmes says, with the culture of “turncoatism” or the relative ease by which politicians affiliate with different, but usually the dominant, political parties, during regime shifts.

“We don’t have substantive political parties in this country,” says Holmes. “They are basically absent. The large number of independents is not surprising and may simply mean that one does not have to be affiliated to run, and maybe even win, during the elections.”

When one considers the dynamics between politicians once they are in office, however, a different picture emerges.

At a recent public forum, Ateneo School of Government Dean Ronald Mendoza tackled political turncoatism by the candidates in regard to their quest for resources during election campaigns.

“On the local level, for example, it would be easier to engage the national government if you are allied with the current dominant party,” Mendoza said. “This can be in terms of resources, like budgets, and approvals for policies and contracts you want in your jurisdiction.”

PCIJ. Non-filers of SOCE, By Position, may 2016

No party discipline

This is not necessarily incongruous to Holmes’s assessment of the weakness of political parties during elections. Holmes even expresses little optimism when asked if political parties should or could be held responsible for policing their members who did not file their SOCEs.

“The parties themselves do not have that discipline,” he says. “Even at the national level, the dominating party is not necessarily strong or unified.”

For instance, after the May 2010 elections, “the Liberal Party was dominant but they couldn’t agree on who among them was supposed to be Senate President,” Holmes points out. “So someone not from the party took the position.”

Juan Ponce Enrile of the Nacionalista Party was elected Senate President in 2010 by a fragile coalition of political parties in the Upper Chamber.

Even the past presidents have had a history of party switching, Holmes says, adding that, “independence” is primarily a legal label than an individuality of thought or principles. Being an independent candidate, he says, simply means one was not formally nominated or affiliated with a party.

In Holmes’s book, it is highly possible that a majority of “independent” candidates on the list of delinquents may have had informal connections with the established political parties.

“They may,” he says. “This is largely determined by the dynamics on the ground and how they engage each other to achieve their goals. Take Grace Poe, for example. She’s currently independent but she may be ‘adopted’ by present political parties in the long run.”

Clans drive politics

But could, or should, delinquent candidates be allowed to run for office again?

Holmes voices concern that other than Comelec, political clans continue to drive the choice of candidates and the results of elections in many parts of the country.

“There are many powerful families and they can take control of representation mechanisms in their territories,” he observes. “The head of a political clan can determine what happens more than any external body, the Commission on Elections included.”

In areas where virulent clans with private armies rule, election officials may be hard put enforcing Comelec’s decision to disqualify delinquent candidates.

Still and all, in October 2015, when Comelec first came out with its initial list of delinquent candidates, CFO head Commissioner Lim had declared the poll body’s commitment to uphold the rule of law.

He told reporters that it was the first time Comelec had spelled out rules on the filing of petitions for disqualification of candidates who had failed to submit election spending reports to the poll body.

But because the rules provide the delinquents the opportunity to file appeals, Comelec can only collect and impose fines on such candidates until the CFO’s decision becomes final and executory.

Schedule of fines

On June 12, 2012, in Resolution No. 9476, Comelec said that for failure to file SOCEs for the first time, candidates, depending on the elective post they had run for, must pay an administrative fine ranging from P1,000 to P30,000, and for the second offense, from P2,000 to P60,000.

That could mean a tidy sum for Comelec – that is, if it does go after the delinquents to collect the fines and the candidates actually pay up.

For the 2013 elections alone, Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista had told reporters that 4,677 or about one in 10 of the candidates who ran for elective positions (net of the party-list groups) had failed to file their SOCEs, as of the deadline of July 2013. Bautista’s estimate is that the poll body could raise up to P52 million in fines from these delinquents.

But until the Comelec’s decision to perpetually bar these candidates from running for public office, becomes final and executory, there is only one, final, true judge and jury on these cases: the Filipino voter. — PCIJ, April 2016
______________________________________________
For details, check out PCIJ’s Money Politics Online