Pals funded TV ads–Binay camp

Vice President Jejomar Binay  INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/RAFFY LERMA

VICE President Jejomar Binay has emerged as the top spender on television advertisements among four major presidential aspirants in 2016, according to data from Nielsen Philippines.

Nielsen, which monitored ad spending between Jan. 1 and Nov. 30, 2015, said Binay spent P595,713,000 for television advertisements in that 11-month period.

Binay’s spokesperson, however, was quick to say the ad money came from friends and supporters.

Sen. Grace Poe was in the second place, with P448,166,000, followed by Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer Mar Roxas with P424,870,000.

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte came in fourth with P115,423,000.

The combined TV ad spending of the four presidential candidates came to around P1.6 billion.

Nielsen said the figures were based on the 2015 rate cards of major television networks.

Among the vice-presidential bets, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano was the biggest spender with P398,288,000, followed by Sen. Bongbong Marcos with P103,429,000.

Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo came in second with P91,602,000, followed by Sen. Gregorio Honasan with P43,580,000.

Sen. Francis Escudero was at the bottom of the list, having spent only P30,000.

Among the senatorial aspirants, Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez was the top spender with P310,763,000.

Other senatorial candidates and the amounts they spent for TV ads were: Valenzuela Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian, P166.9 million; former Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chair Francis Tolentino, P144.1 million; Manila Vice Mayor Isko Moreno, P89.8 million; former senator Panfilo Lacson, P86.3 million; former justice secretary Leila de Lima, P54.5 million; former energy secretary Jericho Petilla, P52.2 million; former Tesda head Joel Villanueva, P40.5 million; Sen. Serge Osmeña, P21.9 million; Akbayan party-list member Risa Hontiveros, P20.2 million; Bayan Muna party-list Neri Colmenares, P4.3 million; and broadcaster Rey Langit, P405,000.

No television ad spending expenditures were recorded for Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who is running for President, and another presidential aspirant, party-list representative Roy Señeres, or for vice-presidential aspirant Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, and senatorial candidates Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, Representatives Roman Romulo of Pasig and Manny Pacquiao of Sarangani.

Binay’s camp promptly accused the Roxas camp of allegedly spinning elections spending survey results in its favor.

Spokesperson Joey Salgado on Tuesday claimed that it was in fact Roxas who had spent the most last year in election advertisements, claiming to have obtained the figures from the same Nielsen study quoted in this story.

However, the figures quoted by Salgado involved total ad spending for television, radio and print media, while the Inquirer story referred only to tv ad spending.

Roxas’ total spending for tv, radio and print ads came to P774.192 million, Salgado said.

He said Roxas spent the bulk on broadcast platforms, with P761 million in television and radio.

The administration bet also spent P13 million for print ads, said Salgado.

Binay, the second top spender, spent P695.555 million for multiplatform ads from January to December 2015, he said.

Poe was a close third, with her spending pegged at P694.603 million. Duterte, a latecomer in the race, spent P129.6 million, the Binay camp said.

Salgado called out the LP spokesperson, Akbayan party-list representative Barry Gutierrez, for his statement Tuesday on the Nielsen survey results.

Gutierrez challenged Binay, who is facing corruption charges for allegedly taking public money during his time as Makati mayor, to explain where he got the funds for his ad spending.

“Where did the money come from? That’s almost P600 million,” Gutierrez said.

Salgado claimed that Binay’s ad money came from “friends and supporters.”

Binay’s declared net worth in 2014 was P60 million. He has repeatedly denied allegations of taking kickbacks from government projects, saying revelations and lawsuits against him were part of efforts to derail his presidential run.

The Vice President’s name recently returned to the top of surveys on preferred presidential bets.

Gutierrez, meanwhile, said that it was clear from the Nielsen report that Roxas “had the lowest spending.”

“We are more focused on grassroots communications to send our message to the smallest communities, which is why there’s less emphasis on TV and radio ads,” he said.

Gutierrez said the report should silence critics who accused Roxas and the LP of using government resources to campaign early.

“It’s clear from the report that they have bigger funds for advertisements,” he said.

Asked about what Roxas was spending for celebrity endorsers, Gutierrez said “many of the endorsers of Secretary Mar were not paid, and actually volunteered.” With reports from DJ Yap and Tarra Quismundo