P50-M cap on prepoll spending urged

Former Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

ON THE HEELS of a report listing the “obscene” amounts of money being spent by the presidential candidates, an independent senatorial aspirant has proposed an upper spending limit of P50 million per candidate in the year leading up to an election.

Walden Bello, a former Akbayan representative, urged Congress to enact legislation restricting presidential candidates to only P50 million before the official campaign period, with lower caps set for vice presidential and senatorial candidates.

In a news conference on Friday, Bello, who earlier bemoaned his own lack of campaign funds, said that spending should be limited to a level sufficient to introduce a candidate, and not to the “scandalous” levels shown in a leaked Nielsen monitoring report.

He challenged the presidential candidates to reveal their biggest donors and contributors, particularly the three biggest spenders—Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer Mar Roxas, United Nationalist Alliance candidate Vice President Jejomar Binay and independent Sen. Grace Poe.

A Nielsen monitoring report on total ad spending for TV, radio and print from Jan. 1 to Nov. 30, 2015, showed that Roxas had spent P774.192 million, or P70.38 million a month; Binay P695.55 million, or P63.23 million a month, and Poe P694.603 million, or P63.14 million a month.

Bello said the candidates should either confirm or deny rumors of their connections to moneyed personalities with vested interests.

“For instance, many suspect that ‘jueteng’ money is backing the Liberal Party candidates, and this was the main reason Gov. Lilia Pineda was made chair of the LP in Pampanga,” Bello said, referring to the wife of Rodolfo Pineda, an alleged kingpin of the illegal numbers game.

Bello said neophyte Senator Poe should also address claims that her “biggest backer” was Danding Cojuangco, the billionaire founder of the Nationalist People’s Coalition and President Aquino’s uncle.

As for Binay, Bello said he must answer claims that “the Chinese government is sending huge amounts of money to the Binay campaign.”

The Vice President has declared a pro-China stance in resolving the South China Sea territorial row, saying he favors a bilateral solution. He is also friendly with Chinese diplomats, having previously interceded on behalf of Filipinos on death row in China.

Bello also cited talk that the Indonesian Salim family which he said “controls Meralco, PLDT, Philex, Maynilad and other strategic industries” was giving money to all presidential candidates “as protection money whoever comes to power.”