Government should pay for campaign expenses – De Guzman

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MANILA, Philippines — The government should pay for the campaign expenses of candidates, whether seeking a local or a national post, so that it could properly regulate poll spending.

Labor leader Leody de Guzman, a presidential bet, made the suggestion at the presidential debate sponsored on Tuesday by the Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI).

Three other candidates joined the debate – former Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales, former Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and former presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella.

“The government should be the one spending for introducing politicians who are running because it’s the government that’s looking for the right leader seeking a post,” De Guzman said in Filipino, the predominant language used in the debate.

“If it’s the individual spending, then elections in the Philippines will really become elections of billionaires, or if not that, of candidates who are popular who will be supported by billionaire corporations,” he added.

De Guzman said it was “an open secret” that candidates spend millions of pesos for campaigning, often backed by big corporations and rich business owners pushing for their own interests in government.

To remedy this, the government should bear the campaign spending he said.

He said true democracy could not be achieved if candidates would continue funding their own campaign because only those who have the machinery and huge following would be able to get funding.

Citing his own experience, De Guzman said he could not afford to put up billboards along EDSA as that would cost about P350,000 for a month. Neither could he afford a 15-second TV ad costing about P800,000.

Accounting

Gonzales supported De Guzman’s proposal, noting that even this early in the campaign period, the other candidates had already spent billions of pesos.

He said the government would actually save a lot more if it would shoulder the campaign expenses of aspiring politicians.

‘Let us remember: All donations and funds spent in elections would have to be recovered. It’s the people who would lose,” Gonzales said.

For his part, Marcos said he could not yet determine his campaign spending so far, saying: “We don’t list the donations. Most of it is in kind. By God’s mercy, we still have a lot of friends who are ready to help – lending a helicopter, a plane. Gratis et amore is what we’re talking about here,” he said.

He also said he could not even give an estimate of his spending since the campaign period opened on Feb. 8.

“No, I cannot. Because I am not following it. I’m not following it because, first of all, we had no accounting before Feb. 8, and since Feb. 8. So the data is not just available. We don’t consolidate it. What we’re monitoring now is the spending since Feb. 8,” Marcos said.

He said his camp would come up with its accounting at the end of the campaign period on submitting its Statements of Contributions and Expenses (SOCE). But it would only include spending that started on Feb. 8.

The SOCE is a full and detailed report about the campaign contributions and expenditures of candidates. Failure to submit it is considered an administrative offense.

Meanwhile, Abella said that most of his expenses had been done by volunteers.

“They give in-kind. So there are no numbers. If there’s anything at all, they just give you T-shirts,” he said.

He said his camp would come up with an accounting of their expenses at the end of the campaign period.

He also pointed out that he did not have “big backers” and a  “big machinery.”

“So, basically it’s all volunteers,” he said.

In reaction, De Guzman said that it would be difficult to reveal the candidates’ expenses, except to say that most of them would spend a lot during the campaign period.

The national and local elections will be held on May 9 this year.

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