EDITORIAL - Overspending

As of yesterday, Emilio Ramon Ejercito still had not formally relinquished his post as governor of Laguna, saying he would wait for the final word from the Supreme Court on his disqualification. The other day the governor received the official order from the Commission on Elections, which unseated him for overspending in his 2013 campaign.

The unanimous order by the seven-member commission affirmed an earlier one by its First Division, which disqualified Ejercito for spending more than P23.5 million for his campaign. Comelec rules allow local candidates to spend no more than P3 per voter, or just over P4.57 million for the 1,525,522 voters of Laguna. Ejercito, however, paid P6 million for one advertising contract alone, according to the Comelec.

Ejercito ran to the Supreme Court last Friday for relief, but the tribunal did not issue an order restraining his disqualification, which was sought by Edgar San Luis of the Liberal Party. Ejercito, a nephew of Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, is claiming political persecution.

There is no doubt that many other candidates also spent beyond the limits set by election rules. The case of “ER” Ejercito, however, appears to be one of the rare few wherein the Comelec found sufficient evidence to establish overspending.

Comelec officials must not stop there. Other winning candidates in 2013, including those who ran for the Senate, are suspected of going beyond campaign spending limits. The proven track record of the Comelec in failing to enforce campaign finance rules has bred impunity among candidates.

In Ejercito’s case, the one who sought his disqualification might have provided leads to the Comelec. Other candidates should do the same, providing each other a system of checks and balances in campaign finance.

The Comelec should go after more candidates suspected to have violated spending rules, exerting the same zeal that it has shown in Ejercito’s case. For a long time, no one has taken campaign spending rules seriously in this country. Businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged mastermind of the pork barrel scam, says she contributed to the war chests of three senators, but the Comelec says it has no record of such contributions.

Corruption often starts in this country during election campaigns, when debts are incurred and investments made that must be repaid later. Any battle against corruption must include campaign finance. The drive against election overspending must be sustained.