Comelec junks over 1,000 cases from 2010, 2013 elections
MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections has dismissed over 1,000 overspending cases from the 2010 and 2013 national and local elections (NLE), citing a Supreme Court ruling that found the poll body guilty of "inordinate delay" in resolving a campaign finance case.
The decision dismisses 437 overspending cases stemming from the 2010 NLE and 489 cases from the 2013 NLE, which were still supposed to undergo preliminary investigation and resolution.
Meanwhile, 51 overspending cases from 2010 and another 47 from 2013 that still have pending Motions for Reconsideration were also dismissed.
Marina Norina Tangaro-Casingal, director at the Comelec’s Law Department, recommended the dismissal of the cases in a memorandum from September last year.
Comelec’s Law Department cited Supreme Court Case on Joseph Roble Peñas v the Commission on Elections promulgated in February 2022, where the poll body was found guilty of delaying cases and the high court emphasized that it took the commission six years from the filing of a complaint to recommend a filing of information against Peñas, breaking the commission’s own rules on resolving cases.
“Further, it was stressed that the case did not involve complex issues, and only required a simple computation and comparison of the expenses reflected in the Statement of Contributions and Expenditures and the campaign expenditure limit allowed by law,” the recommendation from the Comelec Law Department said, adding that the case resembled the over 1,000 pending overspending cases from the 2010 and 2013 NLE it decided to dismiss.
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