MANILA - Batangas Governor Vilma Santos Recto on Thursday said she is surprised by the Commission on Elections order asking her to vacate her post for failure to file her statement of election contributions and expenditures (SOCE). Speaking to ANC's Dateline Philippines, Recto said she filed her SOCE on June 6 before the Comelec's deadline for submission. "Gusto ko lang sabihin na ako ay nag file. In fact, I have the certificate of compliance. Nauna pa kami nag file sa deadline, June 6 when I filed my SOCE. Nagulat lang po. We did not get any letter kung meron pong naging problema. We did not get any letter from the Comelec. Kung nalaman namin na may problema, sana nagawan namin ng correction," she said. She said she asked her lawyers to check why she was included in the Comelec order. She said she never had a complaint about her SOCE in previous elections. "The lawyer is taking care of it. Kung meron pagkakamali sa form or sa signature, I don't think magiging problema naman," she said. Recto is one of more than 400 officials being asked to vacate their posts for failure to submit their SOCEs on time. Brillantes said the elected officials failed to comply with the law by either 1) failing to submit a SOCE 2) failing to sign the submitted SOCE or 3) submitting a signed SOCE that was not in the proper form. Under the poll body's agreement with the Department of the Interior and Local Government, these elected officials are not allowed to assume office until they have fully complied with the SOCE requirements. In a tweet this morning, Comelec Spokesman James Jimenez said no deadline has been set for these elected officials to submit their proper SOCEs but they will have to vacate their posts until they do so.
