By Leslie Ann Aquino
Of the 12 winning senators, Senator-elect Lito Lapid spent the least in his campaign in the May 2019 midterm polls.
Senator-elect Lito Lapid (MANILA BULLETIN)
Based on his Statement of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCE) that he submitted to the Commission on Elections Campaign Finance Office, Lapid only spent P10.7 million while his contributions totaled P175,700.
He was followed by Nancy Binay whose expenditures totaled P56.7 million, Pia Cayetano with P73.7 million, Koko Pimentel with P79.5 million, and Dela Rosa with P92.7 million.
Other winning senators spent more than P100 million in their respective campaigns namely; Bong Go with P161,418,299.31 expenditures followed by Francis Tolentino with 159,169,836.54; Grace Poe with P156,433,463.80; Sonny Angara with P153,655,185.84; Cynthia Villar with P135,529,061.09; Imee Marcos with P132,146,754.55; and Bong Revilla with P121,952,358.93.
To note, Lapid was the last senator-elect to submit his SOCE to the poll body. He only submitted his SOCE Thursday noon, June 27, or two weeks after the June 13 deadline.
Due to late filing, he was made to pay the administrative fine of P10,000.
Under the law, all candidates and electoral parties, both winning and losing, are required to submit SOCE within 30 days after the elections which is June 13.
Comelec said SOCE filed beyond the deadline shall not be accepted except those who won the elections.
Provided, however, the winning candidate shall submit SOCE within six months from the date of proclamation without prejudice to payment to an administrative penalty for late filing.
Failure to file SOCE, the Comelec said may result in the imposition of administrative sanctions against candidates and electoral parties.
Sans the submission of the SOCE, winning candidates are prohibited from assuming office, under the law.