MANILA, Philippines - The top four presidential candidates spent nearly P1.6 billion on television advertisements in 2015, with Vice President Jejomar Binay as the biggest spender.
Monitoring done by media research firm Nielsen Philippines showed that between Jan. 1 and Nov. 30 last year, Binay shelled out P595,713,000 for TV ads.
Sen. Grace Poe came in second with P448,166,000, followed by Liberal Party standard bearer Manuel Roxas with P424,870,000 and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte with P115,423,000.
Among vice presidential candidates, the biggest spender is Duterte‚” running mate Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano with P398,288,000, followed by Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. with P103,429,000.
The other vice presidential hopefuls and their TV ad spending are Roxas‚” running mate Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo, P91,602,000; and Binay‚’s teammate Sen. Gregorio Honasan, P43,580,000.
Poe‚‘s vice presidential bet Sen. Francis Escudero is listed as having spent only P30,000.
Among senatorial candidates, Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez has spent the most money on television ad placements with P310,763,000.
Valenzuela Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian was the second top spender with P166,952,000, followed by former Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman Francis Tolentino with P144,112,000.
The other senatorial candidates and their TV ad expenses are Manila Vice Mayor Isko Moreno, P89,758,000; former senator Panfilo Lacson, P86,341,000; former justice secretary Leila de Lima, P54,499,000; former energy secretary Jericho Petilla, P52,284,000; former Technical Education and Skills Development Authority chief Joel Villanueva, P40,518,000; Sen. Serge Osmeña, P21,990,000; former Akbayan lawmaker Risa Hontiveros, P20,287,000; Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares, P4,363,000, and broadcaster Rey Langit, P405,000.
There are no television ad spending expenses listed for presidential aspirant Rep. Roy Señeres of party-list group OFW Family, vice presidential hopeful Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, and senatorial candidates Sen. Teofisto Guingona III and Representatives Roman Romulo of Pasig City and Manny Pacquiao of Sarangani.
Those eyeing the presidency, vice presidency and Senate seats spent a combined P3.538 billion on TV ads last year.
The figures were based on the ‚“2015 rate cards‚” or gross ad prices of major television networks.
TV stations are known to give huge discounts to regular clients and advertising agencies.
According to longtime election lawyer Romulo Macalintal, there is no crime such as premature campaigning and the law does not ban candidates from placing media ads before the start of the official campaign.
The monitoring report noted that the ad placements were timed with the quarterly voter preference surveys of major pollsters.
Binay’s camp, meanwhile, doubted the veracity of the Nielsen report, saying as far as they know the research firm has yet to release data on the matter for 2015.
“We have been told that there is no such report for 2015 but we assure the public that we spent less than some candidates who advertised heavily in national, cable, provincial TV and radio,” Binay’s spokesman for media affairs Joey Salgado said.
‘Roxas underdog in 2016 polls’
The Koalisyon ng Daang Matuwid said the results of the Nielsen report affirmed that Roxas is the underdog in the 2016 elections.
“It is clear that among the first presidential candidates who declared their candidacy, our candidate was the lowest in terms of ad spending,” Akbayan party-list Rep. Ibarra Gutierrez, spokesman for the coalition, said in a phone interview.
He said it is expected that Duterte would have the lowest expenditure since he declared his presidential bid at a later date.
Gutierrez assured the public that Roxas‚ ad expenses came from legitimate sources.
“He served the government for a long time and there was never an insinuation that he pocketed government money,” Gutierrez said.
He justified the release of Roxas‚” ads before the start of the campaign period, noting that there is no law barring such activities.
For her part, Poe believes that the amount she supposedly spent for television ads was lower than P448.16 million.
She vowed to look into the accounts posted by her camp to determine how she became the second top spender after Binay. – With Alexis Romero, Helen Flores, Christina Mendez