Candidates, parties lie, cheat,
bluff against election laws

The last part of our three-part series on the audit of the election expense reports of the candidates looks at how candidates have run circles around campaign finance laws. The Commission on Elections is first to admit that it has no idea how to carry out a competent audit on campaign contributions and expenses, despite the volumes of documents it requires candidates, political parties, and media entities to submit.

Its inability to fully exercise its authority in ensuring compliance with campaign finance laws, however, may not only be due to a lack of resources and skilled personnel, but also because ambiguities in the laws themselves have led to confusion within and outside of Comelec.

By now, however, everyone has caught on to the fact that Comelec does not really scrutinize the papers it requires candidates, political parties, and media institutions to submit in compliance with campaign-finance laws. Comelec Law Department director Ferdinand Rafanan describes the general attitude of those being required by Comelec to submit documents this way: “It’s the old kind of thinking. Nobody cares. Everybody’s happy. Why disturb it?”

The sidebar story takes a look at how campaign finance rules, while clear about spending limits, reporting requirements and deadlines, and penalties, are hardly ever enforced. To date, no candidate for national office has been penalized for any violations, despite evidence that the rules have been played around with, and not so innocently.