MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) gave assurance on Tuesday that it will take all the appropriate steps should a formal request be submitted seeking to investigate the alleged overspending of President Rodrigo Duterte in his 2016 presidential bid.

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said the commission knew of the call of election watchdog Kontra Daya for the commission to investigate the expenses of the President in his campaign, but only through news reports.

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“To date, however, the Comelec has not received a formal request for such an investigation from Kontra Daya or any other group. Should a formal request be submitted, the Comelec will take all appropriate and necessary steps to resolve the matter,” he said in a statement.

Kontra Daya earlier claimed that Duterte was “likely to have overspent,” pointing out that his expenditures for the 2016 campaign declared to Comelec do not match what was paid to ABS-CBN for advertisements.

Citing data from the network, the group said the campaign team of the President purchased P117 million worth of national ads, all of which were aired, along with P65 million worth of local ads, of which P7-million worth were not aired.

This means that the Duterte camp spent P175 million for aired ads to ABS-CBN, but reports showed the team listed 10 payments made to the network from March to May 2016 worth some P151.47 million only.

Duterte declared a total spending of P371 million for his presidential campaign, according to his statement of contributions and expenditures submitted to the Comelec.

Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo earlier refuted claims that Duterte had overspent in the campaign, and dismissed the findings of the election watchdog as mere “speculation.”

EDV

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