SEC to monitor election-related ads

MANILA, Philippines - Corporate regulator Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is looking into election-related advertising contracts bagged by media companies to make sure funds involved are not from the corporate sector.

“We just want to make sure there are no corporate funds being used,” said SEC Chairman Teresita Herbosa in an interview. She said using corporate funds for political or election activities is a violation of the Corporation Code.

She said television advertisements of politicians are becoming more prevalent with the May election fast approaching.

A recent monitoring done by media research firm Nielsen Philippines showed that the top four presidential candidates have spent nearly P1.6 billion on television advertisements between Jan. 1 and Nov. 30, 2015.

Vice President Jejomar Binay emerged as the biggest spender with P595,713,000 for TV ads while Sen. Grace Poe came in second with P448,166,000.

Liberal Party standard bearer Manuel Roxas’ ad spending came in at P424,870,000 while Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s spending stood at P115,423,000.

In October last year, the corporate regulator signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on the monitoring of candidates’ campaign kitties.

The SEC said it is the responsibility of companies’ CEOs, chief financial officers as well as internal and external auditors to ensure that no corporate money would be released for the upcoming May 2016 elections.

Herbosa said Section 36 (9) of the Corporation Code provides that no corporation, domestic or foreign, shall give donations in aid of any political party or candidate or for purposes of partisan political activity.

She said Section 95 of the Omnibus Election Code enumerates juridical entities that are disqualified from making political contributions.

These include public or private financial institutions, operators of public utility, contractors or subcontractors that supply the government with goods or services, educational institutions as well as civil officials and employees and members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Herbosa said the SEC would look into financial statements of companies after the elections to check if any of them has violated the Corporation Code.

She earlier explained that even if a shareholder owns 90 percent of a corporation, he still cannot use the company’s money to contribute to a politician.

Under the MOA with the Comelec, signed on Oct. 19 by Herbosa and Comelec Chairman Andres Baustista, both agencies agreed to be “information-sharing partners” to ensure election laws and the Corporation Code are strictly followed.

One of the salient provisions of the MOA is the Comelec’s committing to furnish the SEC with names of corporations or other SEC-registered entities engaged in partisan political activity.

The Comelec will also provide the SEC information on campaign finance submissions of candidates and parties, as well as on advertising contracts furnished to Comelec by mass media entities.

Other information include a list of corporations, or other SEC-registered entities, that have filed petitions with Comelec to register as political parties or party-list organizations.

The SEC, for its part, will provide the Comelec with a list of corporations or other SEC-registered entities that are grantees of primary franchisees and/or secondary licenses or permits.