MANILA, Philippines — A former commissioner of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday urged those running in the midterm elections to bare the sources of their campaign funds, including those used to finance advertisements before the start of the campaign period.
In an interview with “Storycon” on One News, election reform specialist and former Comelec commissioner Luie Tito Guia also urged the public to seek transparency from candidates.
“It is good to ask the candidates why they are spending huge amounts for a salary that will not reach one-fifth (of what they spent),” he said in Filipino.
“They should be obligated to explain that. The public should ask, ‘What’s in it for you?’ That’s a question that should be directed to all candidates running for public office,” he added.
Guia was reacting to a recent report of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, which found that the value of the advertisements placed by some of those running in this year’s elections are already worth millions – or billions, in the case of Sen. Imee Marcos and Las Piñas Rep. Camille Villar.
The amounts cited in the report were based on “published rate cards or before discounts.”
Guia said candidates must disclose the source of funds used for the ad placements, particularly if they used personal money or have received donations.
Spending before the campaign period, which will begin on Feb. 11 for candidates running for national office, are not covered by the mandatory statement of contributions and expenditures or SOCE that candidates file after the elections.
But Guia said the public still has the right to know where the funds came from, as it is clear that the ads are part of their efforts to “raise their stock.”
“If we’re talking about campaign, technically there is yet no campaigning to speak of,” he said. “But let’s set aside the meaning of candidate and campaigning (under our laws) … Their objective is really to win the election.”
Guia said the problem lies in the country’s election automation law, which prescribed that an individual “shall only be considered as a candidate at the start of the campaign period for which he filed his certificate of candidacy,” which means that election-related violations, such as overspending, will not apply prior to the start of the campaign period even if an individual already filed his or her certificate of candidacy.
Guia said the current setup limits the choices of voters as candidates without enough funds lose their fair chance of winning.
Meanwhile, former Ilocos Sur governor Chavit Singson has officvisally withdrawn his candidacy for the May 2025 senatorial race.
Singson went to the Comelec main office in Intramuros, Manila to submit his certificate of withdrawal from the senatorial elections.
“I’ve already had pneumonia twice this year. I don’t want to wait for the third,” Singson told reporters as the reason for withdrawing his candidacy.
Although Singson has officially withdrawn, Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia said there would still be 66 senatorial candidates in the coming elections, noting the inclusion of Subair Guinthum Mustapha following the issuance of a temporary restraining order by the Supreme Court.
Only the numbers on the ballot of candidates whose surnames start with M could be affected by the inclusion of Mustapha, Garcia added.
Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police has established 6,327 checkpoints across the country since the election gun ban was implemented on Jan. 12. – Mayen Jaymalin, Christine Boton