Threatening… and meaning it

Candidates in the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections seem to be taking the threat of the Commission on Elections seriously: those who violate campaign rules face disqualification. A BSKE candidate who wins, but faces an election complaint, will not be allowed by the Comelec to assume the post.

With their term shortened to just two years, as ordered by the Supreme Court in its ruling (which became final yesterday) declaring BSKE postponements unconstitutional, any delay in assuming their post would be a big deal for the affected candidates.

Surely the Comelec’s disqualification of candidates for various reasons, including violating the prohibition on political dynasties in the SK race, sent a strong message that the Comelec means business.

So, at least in my part of town, I can see compliance with the rules on common areas for posting campaign materials. The handful of violators mostly carry the surnames of incumbent mayors or political clans. These dynasts are incorrigible and as ruinous to this country as COVID.

I don’t know what the situation is in other parts of the country. In Abra, some power blocs seem busy eliminating challengers through intimidation. As of last Friday, 250 candidates had withdrawn, many of them reportedly citing “pressure” from unnamed quarters.

Unless someone files a formal complaint, however, the Comelec says it can’t disqualify any candidate who might have pressured rivals to withdraw.

The government may have to guarantee protection to encourage at least some of those who have withdrawn to file a formal complaint.

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There are some takeaways here that may be applied to the midterm and general elections.

One is that when people think the Comelec’s warnings are not merely empty threats, they comply with the rules.

Two, there’s a discussion on the possible expansion of the ban on political dynasties. The discussion was triggered by the Comelec’s enforcement of the ban in the SK race, disqualifying two candidates so far over the prohibition.

Since this, however, will require legislation by a Congress that is packed with shameless political dynasts, I’m not holding my breath.

Will the Comelec also disqualify candidates and winners who fail to comply with the requirement to submit statements of contributions and expenditures (SOCE) within 30 days from election day?

The SOCE, like public officials’ SALN or statement of assets, liabilities and net worth that Ombudsman Samuel Martires keeps under lock and key with impressive zeal, can be littered with inaccuracies and outright lies that the Comelec lacks the capability to detect or debunk.

Still, a SOCE can raise red flags that election watchdogs and candidates’ rivals can follow up for possible campaign violations that warrant the filing of complaints.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Internal Revenue has issued a reminder that campaign contributions, whether in cash or kind, are subject to five percent creditable withholding tax, and must be covered by non-VAT BIR-printed receipts. These days we’re learning that under BIR rules, unspent campaign donations kept by candidates or political parties are considered income and are subjected to income tax. Who knew?

And who will comply, believing that violators can’t be caught anyway?

As in the case of the SOCE, whose accuracy the Comelec is hard-pressed to verify, can the BIR find out which candidates or parties are cheating on their campaign taxes?

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Campaign finance is a black hole that has facilitated money laundering in this country. Gambling lords, smugglers, drug dealers, bank robbers and other organized crime ringleaders easily launder dirty money to finance a career shift to politics and big business.

As long as they know how to distribute even a fraction of their dirty money for patronage, they have a good chance of winning. They might even build a political dynasty, and end up controlling everything in their turf.

The Financial Action Task Force should look into how campaign financing in the Philippines has become one of the most pervasive and efficient conduits for money laundering. Even terrorist funds can be successfully laundered during election campaigns in this country. We remain in the FATF’s gray list partly because of weakness in countering terrorism financing.

And speaking of dirty money, we’re waiting for any financial institution supervised by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to report any possible case of vote buying, and for any election-related laundering of dirty money to reach the Anti-Money Laundering Council.

The barangay is the smallest unit of government. But village officials constitute the network used by politicians in the upper tiers of government to win grassroots support, by hook or by crook, during elections.

Village officials are the ones who distribute candidates’ vote-buying money directly to vote sellers, in cash or kind, and more often these days, through e-wallets. The BSP-supervised financial institutions are supposed to be on the lookout for these suspicious digital transactions. But I don’t remember any of these institutions reporting any anomalous transactions in previous elections, so I’m not holding my breath either on this initiative.

Local government executives and other government officials are prohibited from endorsing BSKE candidates. But there are many ways of skirting this prohibition. Can the Comelec catch and punish the violators?

The Comelec needs additional effort to dispel perceptions that it is a toothless tiger or a compromised institution, unable or unwilling to enforce its own rules.