PH Presidential Candidates Outspends US Candidate Billionaire Donald Trump
Who says the Philippines is a poor country? When it comes to grabbing the highest political position, money is never a problem, at least to the three presidential candidates who spend more than what American billionaire and presidential candidate Donald Trump is spending so far.
The Federal Electoral Commission shows Trump, who is seeking the US presidency, had so far spent $2 million (P94.18 million at an exchange rate of P47.09 to $1, or P13.45 million a month) from January to July last year.
On the contrary, a Nielsen monitoring report on total ad spending for TV, radio and print from Jan. 1 to Nov. 30, 2015, showed three presidential candidates each spending more than half a billion pesos—Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer Mar Roxas (P774.192 million, or P70.38 million a month), Vice President Jejomar Binay (P695.55 million, or P63.23 million a month) and Sen. Grace Poe (P694.603 million, or P63.14 million a month).
For television ads in the 11-month period, Binay spent P595,713,000, according to Nielsen data.
Poe was in second place, with P448,166,000, followed by Roxas with P424,870,000. Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte came in fourth with P115,423,000.
Among the vice presidential candidates, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano was the biggest spender with P398,288,000, followed by Sen. Bongbong Marcos with P103,429,000.
Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo came in third with P91,602,000, followed by Sen. Gregorio Honasan II with P43,580,000.
At the bottom of the list was Sen. Francis Escudero, having spent only P30,000.
Among the senatorial aspirants, the top spender was Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez with P310,763,000.
Critics, especially leftists groups said the buying of election in the Philippines is hard to control because of weak law that prohibits premature campaign.
/Kris Andanar/
