Campaign Expenditure Limits for Sangguniang Bayan Candidates

(Philippine elections – comprehensive legal guide, updated to 21 June 2025)

1. Why the Limits Exist

Campaign-spending ceilings are meant to:

equalize the chances of rich and poor candidates;
curb vote-buying and undue influence; and
help the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) audit money in politics, as directed by the 1987 Constitution (Art. IX-C, §2(7)).

2. Core Statutes & Regulations

Source	Key provisions for municipal (SB) candidates
§13, Republic Act 7166 (1991)	₱3.00 per registered voter in the municipality/city. (The amount has never been amended.)
§§14-15, R.A. 7166	Mandatory Statement of Contributions & Expenditures (SoCE) within 30 days after Election Day; penalties for late or non-filing.
Omnibus Election Code (B.P. 881, 1985) Arts. 261-264	Defines “election offenses” and imposes imprisonment (1–6 yrs), disqualification, and/or fine for overspending.
Fair Election Act (R.A. 9006, 2001)	Caps and rules for political advertising; these costs must be booked inside the ₱3/voter ceiling.
COMELEC Resolutions (latest cycle numbers: 10795, 10795-A, 10797 & 10944 for 2025)	Detailed forms (SOCE Form 5, Schedule A-H), documentation, audit triggers, and graduated administrative fines for late/erroneous filings.

Pending bills to raise the ₱3.00 ceiling (e.g., HB 7862 [2023] & SB 1798 [2024]) are still in committee; none has become law as of 21 June 2025.

3. How to Compute the Cap

Determine the official number of registered voters in the municipality, as certified by the local Election Officer on the day the campaign period starts.
Multiply by ₱3.00. Example: If the municipality has 45,218 voters → 45,218 × ₱3 = ₱135,654 is the candidate’s lifetime spending limit for that election.

Important clarifications

The cap is per candidate, separate from any amount a political party may spend (party ceiling = ₱5/voter, §13, R.A. 7166).
Contributions in kind must be monetized at fair market value and counted.
Unpaid obligations incurred during the campaign period are deemed expenditures when incurred—not when later settled.

4. What Counts as “Campaign Expenditure”

Included (must be booked)	Expressly Excluded
Advertising (print, broadcast, digital); boosting posts	Volunteer personal services (labor rendered freely)
Printing of posters, flyers, sample ballots	Use of private vehicles of volunteers driven without rental fees or fuel reimbursement
Rallies, miting-de-avances, livestream productions	News coverage of bona-fide events
HQ rent, utilities, internet, phone	Cost of allowances for watchers if ≤ ₱500/day/person (COMELEC Res. 10797)
Poll-watcher per diems > ₱500/day	Personal funds the candidate uses are still counted; source is irrelevant

Premature-campaigning expenses. Under Penera v. COMELEC (G.R. 181613, 25 Nov 2009), a person is not yet a “candidate” before the official campaign period, so money spent then is not booked against the ₱3/voter limit. It can still constitute vote buying or other offenses, but it won’t affect the spending cap.

5. Timing Rules

Phase	Status vis-à-vis the Cap	Notes
Before filing the Certificate of Candidacy (COC)	Outside the cap	Spender is not yet a “candidate” by law (§15, OEC as amended).
After COC but before official campaign period	Still outside the cap (per Penera)	Premature campaigning remains prohibited but not counted.
Official campaign period until Election Day	Inside the cap	All disbursements & liabilities booked.
Election Day itself	Still inside	Includes watcher allowances, get-out-the-vote operations.
After Election Day	Not counted, except payments of obligations already incurred (they were booked when incurred).

6. Statement of Contributions & Expenditures (SoCE)

Who files? Every candidate—winning or losing—and every party/coalition.
Deadline: 30 days after Election Day (no extension).
Forms: SOCE Form 5 + Schedules A–H (2025 cycle numbers).
Required attachments:
- Original official receipts or invoices ≥ ₱500
- Bank certifications of campaign accounts
- Lease contracts, advertising contracts, etc.

Legal consequences

Late filing: Graduated administrative fine (₱1,000–₱30,000) plus possible election-offense prosecution.
Non-filing:
- First offense – Cannot assume office until filed + administrative fine.
- Second consecutive offense – Same + higher fine.
- Third offense (even non-consecutive) – Perpetual disqualification to hold public office (§14, R.A. 7166; Carabeo v. COMELEC, G.R. 227728, 6 Aug 2019).
Material misdeclaration or overspending: Election offense (Art. 261[j], OEC) punishable by 1–6 yrs imprisonment, loss of voting rights for same period, and perpetual disqualification.

7. Enforcement & Audit

COMELEC Campaign Finance Office (CFO) performs desk audit; red-flags trigger full audit.
Materiality thresholds (Res. 10795-A): ≥ 5 % variance or undocumented expenditure ≥ ₱10,000.
CFO may subpoena bank records (§6, R.A. 10756, 2016), suppliers, and media entities.
Findings are referred either to the Law Department (for prosecution) or to the regional director (for administrative fines).

8. Practical Compliance Tips for SB Candidates

Open a single-purpose campaign bank account on the day you file your COC.
Issue official receipts for every contribution received, whether cash or in-kind.
Enter liabilities immediately; the date of the contract—not payment—determines whether it eats into the cap.
Cap watcher allowances at ₱500/day to avoid needless bookkeeping.
Keep a daily cash-flow sheet; reconcile with bank passbook weekly.
Close the account within 90 days after filing the SoCE and keep records for 5 years (audit prescriptive period).
Educate volunteers—their out-of-pocket spending must be reported if you later reimburse them.
Check the voter count in the COMELEC certified list (CRV) published 15 days before the campaign period; don’t guess.

9. Frequently-Asked Questions

Question	Quick Answer
Does “₱3 per voter” adjust for inflation?	Not automatically. Only Congress can amend it; no update since 1991.
Are Facebook ads part of the cap?	Yes. COMELEC treats boosted posts as “print/broadcast/mass media” expenditures.
If the party pays for tarpaulins, do I count it against my cap?	No, it hits the party’s separate ₱5/voter cap, unless the party assigns the expense to you in writing.
Can I donate surplus funds to charity?	Yes, within 1 year after Election Day, but the donation and disposition must be reported to COMELEC (Res. 10944, §39).
What if I withdraw my candidacy?	Spendings already made remain reportable; the ₱3/voter ceiling still applies because you were a “candidate” during the period you campaigned.

10. The Road Ahead

Legislative momentum exists to raise the obsolete ₱3 figure to ₱10–₱15 per voter and to index it to inflation every five years.
E-wallet traceability: Starting the 2028 midterm cycle, draft COMELEC rules propose mandatory use of QR-coded e-receipts for online donations < ₱5,000.
Real-time disclosure portal: A pilot “Campaign Finance Dashboard” went live in March 2025, letting voters view uploaded SOCEs and bank certifications in open-data format.

11. Bottom Line

For a Sangguniang Bayan candidate, every peso spent between the first day of the official campaign period and 11:59 PM of Election Day must fit inside a simple formula:

Total Spending ≤ (Registered Voters × ₱3.00)

Master that rule; document everything; file your SoCE on time—and you will stay on the right side of both COMELEC auditors and criminal prosecutors, while reassuring constituents that your mandate was earned, not bought.