JV Ejercito doubts poll campaign expense reports of Team PNoy bets

Senator-elect JV Ejercito . INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Incoming senator JV Ejercito finds it hard to believe that he is the top election spender among the winning candidates in the senatorial race, contending that his rivals from the Team PNoy administration coalition had way more TV and radio advertisements than he did.

Ejercito, in a statement, acknowledged that he spent a large amount, or a total of P138.2 million, in his bid for a Senate seat.

While Ejercito is the top spender among the victorious senatorial candidates, his fellow candidate from the United Nationalist Alliance, Jack Enrile, who lost in the elections, actually spent more.

Enrile was the top spender, shelling out P150.8 million during the campaign.

Ejercito believes his rivals from Team PNoy who aired generally expensive TV and radio ads had most likely spent more.

“It is impossible for me to be the top campaign spender given the volume of advertisements aired by Team PNoy during the campaign period. In television and radio ads alone, we were drowned out by the many ad placements of Team PNoy,” he said.

He noted that he even had to stop the airing of some of his commercials at one point during the campaign because his funds were running out.

“My campaign fund got exhausted in April so I postponed the airing of advertisements for two weeks. I remember that is the same period when Team PNoy doubled the blasting of their television ads,” he said.

Ejercito said senatorial candidates should be truthful in disclosing their campaign expenses.

“I challenge the candidates especially of Team PNoy to be honest in declaring the actual expenditures in their campaign,” he said.