Roxas’ lawyer downplays admin bet’s failure to file SOCE on time

Lawyer Romulo Macalintal played down the failure of losing presidential candidate Manuel "Mar" Roxas II's to meet the deadline for filing of campaign expenditure report on Wednesday.

"I'm not aware of his SOCE (statement of contributions and expenditures) not having filed on time pero nothing to worry about kasi I'm sure he'd file," said Macalintal, a member of the Liberal Party standard-bearer's election legal team.

Roxas has been deemed a "non-filer" by the poll body as he failed to submit his SOCE even after the Comelec extended the deadline by an hour and a half, from the original 5 p.m. cut-off to 6:30 p.m.

The former interior secretary's four rivals for the presidency were able to beat the deadline as the Comelec pointed out in Comelec Resolution No. 9991 that submissions beyond June 8 would not be accepted.

Macalintal admitted that Comelec penalizes non-filing of SOCE.

Under the resolution, a presidential candidate who failed to file a campaign expenditure report would have to pay a fine of P30,000 for the first offense and P60,000 for the second offense.

Meanwhile, Rep. Barry Gutierrez, ruling coalition spokesperson, said Roxas has asked for an extension.

"A request for extension was sent to Comelec today, asking for an additional 14 days within which to complete the filing for Mar Roxas and the Liberal Party," Gutierrez said in a text message to GMA News Online.

"The primary reason is the voluminous number of receipts that have to be scanned and attached to the document, in compliance with the rules and in the interest of complete transparency," he added.  — with Kathrina Charmaine Alvarez/NB, GMA News