Lacson disputes ad spending report

Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Panfilo Lacson on Sunday disputed a report that he was the top spender on traditional media among the presidential candidates before the campaign period, having allegedly run almost a billion pesos worth of advertisements in 2021.

“No way we could have spent what we didn’t have,” the Partido Reporma standard-bearer said as he denied the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) report citing data from Nielsen, which indicated that the TV, radio, print and outdoor billboard ads he ran from January to December cost P915.30 million.

Precampaign advertising is not banned under the country’s election laws. Election spending limits are only tracked from the start of the campaign period for national positions. This year, it falls on Feb. 8.

“I asked my campaign team, volunteers and supporters about this. They insisted that they never saw, much less had this much money,” Lacson said on his Twitter account.

“I asked them to check again—same answer,” he added.

The PCIJ report said Lacson separately shared ads with his running mate, Senate President Vicente Sotto III, worth P215 million.

The amounts, according to PCIJ, are based on the published rate cards “or before discounts were given to his campaign team.”

The Fair Elections Act requires media outlets to give discounted rates to the candidates.

“Among presidential candidates, Lacson was followed by Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso, who aired ads worth P735.44 million during the 12-month period,” the report said.

The PCIJ said Vice President Leni Robredo and former Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. “caught up on their ad spending in the aftermath of the filing of candidacies.”

“In total, Robredo aired ads worth P500.47 million in 2021,” it said.

Marcos, on the other hand, “ran ads worth P310.26 million in December, or 94 percent of his total ad spending on traditional media in 2021,” the PCIJ reported.

“Sen. Emmanuel Pacquiao, who ranked fourth in the December Pulse Asia survey, only ran print ads worth P1.7 million in 2021,” it said.