Sen. Cynthia Villar. (Screen grab/ Senate PRIB file photo)
MANILA, Philippines—Winning an election is not all about the money you have.
Take it from the richest member of the Senate, Senator Cynthia Villar, as the chamber continued its debates on a measure, seeking to raise the amount of authorized campaign expenses of candidates and political parties.
“You know, pag winning candidate ka kahit mahirap ka maraming magbibigay sayo ng pera. Pag losing candidate ka kahit mayaman ka hindi ka mananalo. That’s the reality of PH politics. ’Wag nyong sabihing nasa pera yan,” Villar said.
(You know, if you’re a winning candidate, even if you’re poor, many will give you money. If you’re a losing candidate, even if you’re rich, you will not win. That’s the reality of PH politics. Don’t say this is all about money.)
“Pag winning candidate ka, ang daming magko-contribute. Pag losing candidate ka, maski gastahin mo lahat mg pera mo at mayaman ka hindi ka mananalo,” she went on.
(If you’re a winning candidate, many will contribute. If you’re a losing candidate, even if you spend all your money and you’re rich, you will not win.)
“So it doesn’t matter, I think. Just make it reasonable so that we will not cheat,” Villar added.
Her husband, businessman Manny Villar, ran but lost to former President Benigno Aquino III in the 2010 polls.
Sen. Villar’s remark came after Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon suggested the adoption of one rate for all candidates, instead of the various rates being proposed in the measure.
“Anyway the limitation, if it’s local then the per capita expense will be limited by the number of voters in the locality. So that’s self-limiting amount,” Drilon explained.
“So just have one amount for a campaign expense. And I repeat, whatever is the size of the voting population would determine the total amount that a candidate is allowed to spend,” he stressed.
Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, however, raised concern to Drilon’s proposal.
“It gives a disadvantage to the poor candidates because the rich ones can do more, can advertise more,” Sotto said.
Drilon countered the Senate leader.
“With all due respect sir, that situation applies to everyone whether president, vice president, governor, mayor. When you set the maximum of campaign expense, automatically the well-resourced candidates will have an advantage, that’s the reality of life.”
“I’m just saying, let’s make it simplier by just a setting one expense standard for everyone and whatever is the constituency is the limitation,” he further said.
The House of Representatives has already approved its own version of the measure, setting the spending cap for presidential, vice presidential and senatorial bets at P50 from the current P10.
For political parties, the House sets the spending cap at P50 per voter for their national candidates and P30 per voter for local candidates.