The Commission on Elections (Comelec) admitted that the 2013 midterm elections would be challenging since the commission is set to implement stricter rules on campaign financing and the party-list system.

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. acknowledged that the commission was lax in the past but vowed to strictly implement the rules come election period.

“It’s just in the past medyo relaxed kasi ang commission ngayon binaliktad na namin. Nag-hihigpit na kami. Todo- todo higpit [the commission was a bit relaxed so we reversed the situation. We are becoming strict. Extremely strict],” Brillantes said.

He also reiterated that the recent purging campaign of the Comelec aims to disqualify organizations that have multiple violations.

“Several other congressmen will be on their way out. You can expect on the coming days na magtatangal pa kami maski incumbent congressmen [that we would remove more, even if they are incumbent congressmen],” Brillantes said.

Strict monitoring
He also said that campaign-financing rules should be strictly observed this election period.

The monitoring of campaign expenditures will promptly begin come the start of the campaign period.

The commission is tasked to monitor the size of posters, tarpaulins, the amount of donations, and even the conduct of fund-raising activities.

“Hindi kami nagbibiro dito, seryoso talaga kami. Wala nga lang mapapakulong pero [We’re not joking, we’re really serious. No one will be jailed, but we will] take advantage of the administrative fine . . . we will be very strict in all political propaganda,” the Comelec chief stressed.

Under Section 13 of Republic Act 7166, candidates for president and vice-president may spend only P10 per voter. Other candidates supported by a political party may spend only P3 per voter, while those not nominated by a political party may spend P5 for every voter. Political parties, on the other hand, are limited to spend only P5 for every voter registered in areas or districts where they have official candidates.

Preparations
Comelec preparations for the midterm polls are on-going, Brillantes added.

“Other preparations for 2013 [midterm election] are so many, patong patong na nga e [it has already piled up],” Brillantes said.

The Comelec, for one, decided to buy 81,280 Precinct Count Optical Scan machines earlier this year, despite staunch opposition.

“So many detractors but we decided to finally exercise the obsolete purchase. Dahil sa mura kinu-question po kami ng Supreme Court pero si-nustain na kami so tapos na yung issues sa machines [Because of the cheap price, we were questioned by the Supreme Court, but our move was sustained so the issue on the machines is over]” Brillantes explained.

He also added that the Comelec has been bidding out all peripheral services and equipment involving the machines since April.

Other preparations involve the on-going voter’s registration which will run until the end of this month and the removal of ineligible voters in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) which entails the production of a new list of voters in the said region.

“We need to cleanse the entire list of voters in ARMM so we need to come out with the new list,” Brillantes said.

The Comelec aims to produce the final list of candidates on December 21, in time to print all the candidates’ names on the ballots.

“The reason is by January we need to commence on the configuration of the ballots which means we configure every ballot in each town and municipality,” Brillantes explained.

The Comelec chairman, however, is confident that they will finish everything on time because of the recent appointment of their new commissioner, former Governor Grace Padaca of Isabela.

“Tuloy tuloy lang ang trabaho, walang titigil [The work continues, it will not cease],” he said.