Cayetano camp: No gov’t funds used in Taguig ads

MANILA, Philippines–The camp of Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano dismissed the “outrageous claims” made by United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) interim president and Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco regarding recent TV ads that had the senator talking about anticorruption initiatives in Taguig City, where his wife, Lani, is the incumbent mayor.

In a statement Tuesday, Taguig City Councilor Darwin Icay said “no government funds were used in the Taguig ads and that the cost of such advocacy ads is nowhere in the vicinity of the amount claimed by UNA.”

The statement, however, did not say who paid for the ads. The councilor could not be immediately reached for an interview.

Icay, who also served as the Cayetanos’ spokesman during the election period, was reacting to Tiangco’s remarks last week challenging Mayor Cayetano to produce records showing who paid for the production and placement of the 15- to 30-second ads. The UNA official estimated the cost of their primetime placements to be between P200,000 and P300,000.

Tiangco brought up the Taguig ads after Cayetano accused Vice President Jejomar Binay of attempting to use money from Pag-Ibig Fund to run a political ad three years ago, a move that the senator said was opposed by the agency’s president, Darlene Berberabe.

Berbarabe denied the claim and said Binay did not want to appear in any Pag-Ibig ad.

But Icay said the “outrageous claims and accusations” against the senator regarding the ads were still in retaliation for the Senate investigation into the allegedly graft-ridden building projects of Binay during his term as Makati City mayor. Kristine Felisse Mangunay