New execs start term noon today By Sheila Crisostomo (The Philippine Star) | Updated June 30, 2013 - 12:00am MANILA, Philippines - More than 18,000 officials elected in the May 13 midterm polls will assume office today. Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. said the term of office of most incumbent officials ends today. “The term of newly elected officials starts at noon today. By Monday, they can start reporting for work,” Brillantes said in a telephone interview yesterday. A total of 18,053 seats were up for grabs in the last elections, including 12 seats for senators; 58 for House members; 80 for governors and vice governors; 766 for Sangguniang Panlalawigan members; 143 for city mayors and vice mayors; 1,598 for Sangguniang Panglungsod members; 1,491 for municipal mayors and vice mayors; 11,932 for Sangguniang Bayan members; one each for regional governor and vice governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and 223 members of its regional assembly. Elected local officials will serve a three-year term or until 2016, while the elected senators will stay in office for the next six years. Voted senators were Grace Poe-Llamanzares, Loren Legarda, Francis Escudero, Alan Peter Cayetano, Nancy Binay, Edgardo Angara, Paolo Benigno Aquino, Aquilino Pimentel III, Antonio Trillanes IV, Cynthia Villar, JV Ejercito, and Gregorio Honasan. Headlines ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Poll expenses audit Meanwhile, Brillantes said they are still reviewing who among the local officials have filed complete Statements of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCEs), a requirement before they can assume office. “We are supposed to notify the Department of the Interior and Local Government on the local officials who failed to comply with the SOCE requirement. But until now, we are not yet finished with the review,” he said. The poll body had inked a memorandum of agreement with the late DILG secretary Jesse Robredo to bar non-compliant local officials from holding office. The Comelec is hopeful that DILG Secretary Mar Roxas will honor the agreement. Brillantes said the poll body would start auditing next week the campaign contributions and expenditures declared by the candidates in their SOCEs. “Seeing who complied with the SOCE requirement is different from auditing the (contents) of the SOCE. We will start doing that with the help of Namfrel and PICPA. We will be meeting soon,” he added. Brillantes was referring to the poll watchdog National Citizen’s Movement for Free Elections and the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants, which will help the Comelec evaluate the campaign finances of the candidates. philstar/headlines/2013/06/30/959816/new-execs-start-term-noon-today
Posted on: Sat, 29 Jun 2013 22:40:06 +0000
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