MANILA, Philippines—Election candidates may have spent hundreds of millions (or even billions) of pesos for campaigning and gone beyond the limit, but they can simply keep mum about it and get off scot-free.

The legal chief of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) himself admitted that the poll body has no way of verifying candidates’ expenses and sources of contributions, which they have to declare after the elections. Winning, losing, and even disqualified candidates have until June 9 to submit their statements of contributions and expenditures.

“There’s no way to audit,” Atty. Ferdinand Rafanan, head of the Comelec Law Department, said in a mix of English and Filipino. “Whatever they submit, we take it for granted if it’s accurate or not.”

Rafanan told reporters that his department has no capability to verify the financial statements submitted by candidates because of the sheer volume of submissions and the lack of a “determined instruction” for them to do it.

Because of this, submitting the statement of contributions and expenditures has always been a mere matter of compliance.

“What we are only able to enforce is submission. If they submitted on time or did not submit or never submitted, that’s it,” Rafanan said.

According to Comelec rules, candidates who fail to submit their statements will be fined from P1,000 to P30,000. Repeat offenders will be charged an election offense and be disqualified.

Whether what is written on paper is true or not, the Comelec has no way to check. In fact, no one has ever been penalized for campaign overspending—and Rafanan is not surprised.

“The natural tendency of candidates is to submit reports indicating they have not gone beyond the limit,” he said.

The Fair Elections Act states that presidential and vice presidential candidates may only spend up to P10 per voter, or around P507 million with some 50.7 million registered voters this year. Other candidates without any political party may spend P5, while those backed by parties may spend P3 for every voter registered in the place where they filed their certificate of candidacy.

Rafanan plans to tap the services of groups like the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Junior Philippine Institute of Accountants to help the poll body verify candidates’ expenditures. He also said his office has been coordinating with the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, co-convener of the poll watchdog Pera’t Pulitika which has been gathering data on campaign expenses.

Pera’t Pulitika has noted that many candidates and even party-list groups have spent exorbitantly for advertising alone.

Meanwhile, the party-list group Akbayan has requested for an extension of the deadline for submitting the statement of contributions and expenditures up to June 24.

“That will have to be discussed and approved by the en banc,” Comissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said in a text message to reporters.

So far, only 15 candidates and party-list groups have complied with the requirement. This does not include any presidential bet.