The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is eyeing the possibility of counting the campaign expenses of candidates once they file their Certificates of Candidacy (COCs).
"There are some reforms that we would like to do, one of them is for computing campaign expenses," Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon said in an online townhall forum Thursday, July 8.
"I think the majority of us agree that once the candidate file their COC then the clock starts ticking for campaign finance, so all expenses should be counted from the time, immediately upon submission of the COC," she added.
Guanzon said they are also looking for a way to compute the ads in social media like Facebook and Twitter.
"That's one big project really that I would like to see done before I retire on February 2 next year. We cannot regulate the use of social media... we don't have a technology for that, but I think we can compute the expenses if FB or Twitter will help," she said.
"Of course there's the rule on its not premature campaigning...but the duty of the Comelec is to conduct an election that is fair for all," added Guanzon.
"Those are the things we have to do before the filing of COC," she said.
The Poll Automation Law states that “any person who files his certificate of candidacy shall only be considered as a candidate at the start of the campaign period” and that “unlawful acts applicable to a candidate shall be in effect only upon that start of the campaign period.”
This was affirmed by the 2009 Supreme Court case of Penera vs. Comelec, which paved the way for the removal of premature campaigning as an election offense.
The Comelec has set the filing of COC for the May 2022 polls from October 1 to 8, 2021.
The campaign period, on the other hand, is from February 8 to May 7, 2022.