(First of two parts)

Ads worth more than P4 billion have already aired on TV and radio stations across the Philippines even before candidates filed their certificates of candidacy (CoCs) last October.

Close to a hundred candidates for senator, party-list and district representatives, other local positions, as well as political parties,  had TV spots worth P3.7 billion and radio spots worth P342 million from January to September last year, based on published rate cards. 

The data was obtained by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) from Nielsen Ad Intel, which monitors candidates’ spending. The amounts are based on published rate cards or before discounts may have been given to the candidates’ teams.

A Nielsen report shows that TV remains to be an important medium to reach voters. Digital platforms widen the reach, it said. 

The candidates also had billboards all over the country worth P70 million and ads on print media worth P18 million.

Two senatorial candidates, scions of the country’s biggest and most influential political clans, account for half of the total advertisements. 

Las Piñas Rep. Camille Villar and Sen. Imee Marcos each had ads worth P1 billion before the CoC filing, based on published rate cards. It is not known if they received—and how much—discounts from media organizations that provided space for their advertisements. 

“The amounts are staggering. It tells you that [campaign spending] will go up as we move forward in the 2025 elections,” Jean Encinas Franco, associate professor at the University of the Philippines’ Department of Political Science, told PCIJ. 

The amounts do not include candidates’ spending on social media, which Franco believed is already significant, and the cost of producing the advertisements, the maintenance of campaign offices, and salaries of campaign staff, among other regular expenses.

It shows how candidates have ignored legal timelines, said former Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner Luie Guia. “Candidates have recognized that they have to really project themselves earlier on as serious contenders. Unfortunately, that means spending so much money to have a more effective reach,”  he told PCIJ. 

Guia said the other candidates are expected to attempt to match the heavy ad spending of their rivals, setting the stage for another expensive election. 

Attempts to “even the playing field” during elections have been undermined, he said. “Well-resourced candidates still would have much leeway despite what the law says.” 

Stronger laws regulating premature campaigning and campaign donations are needed, said Arjan Aguirre, assistant professor at the Ateneo de Manila University.

It’s not only advertising that needs better regulation. 

“We can see so much campaign activities or political operations going on a year before an electoral cycle,” Aguirre said, citing heavy government spending in localities for “ayuda,” which electoral reform groups said has been abused by incumbent politicians to curry favor with voters.  

He said amendments to the country’s Omnibus Election Code are needed to give the Comelec the powers and resources to monitor the flow of funding to parties.

TV get 90% of budget for traditional media

Television received the lion’s share or about 90% of the candidates’ advertising budget for traditional media, based on Nielsen Ad Intel’s monitoring. 

Radio, billboards, and print media received the remaining 10% of the budget. 

“Television remains to reach around 8 out of 10 Filipinos, with duration spent watching television not lower than one hour per day. Compared to other countries, the Philippines has one of the highest reach in terms of platform,” Nielsen reported. 

Villar and Marcos recorded the biggest spending on TV and radio.

Agri party-list Rep. Wilbert Lee, also a senatorial candidate, recorded the biggest spending on outdoor media.

Lee, among the biggest spenders on social media, did not air ads on TV and radio during the nine-month period. He had print ads worth less than P250,000. 

Las Piñas congressional candidate Sen. Cynthia Villar (P2.6 million) and Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez (P1.3 million) recorded the biggest spending in print ads, followed by EduAksyon party-list group (P1.2 million). 

Personality politics 

The rising cost of running for elections in the Philippines underscores the weakness of political parties, according to experts interviewed by PCIJ.

“Political parties are becoming less capable of doing their work during campaigns since they are now being replaced by personalities from ad hoc campaign teams composed of market practitioners and PR firms,” said Aguirre.

The substance of campaigns has suffered as a result, he said. Instead of discussing issues, candidates have focused on what is appealing and sellable to people.

“Political parties and PR firms should complement each other,” said Aguirre, proposing that the latter works to enhance the work of the former. 

He said the national discussion should be about “how we should understand a problem that plagues that society, what policy we expect to emerge in the next Congress, and priority initiatives to address a problem.”

If political parties managed campaigns, Franco said stricter standards and rules would also be implemented, including adherence to reform policies.

She said political parties can exact accountability among candidates and facilitate more transparency in political financing, reducing risks of donors’ influence on winning candidates.

Even in the party-list elections, designed by law to fill the House of Representatives with issue-based members, personalities dominate.

A PCIJ report showed that political dynasties have swarmed the party-list elections in the last decade. In this election cycle, several senators have immediate relatives running for party-list seats.

Others have advertised using popular celebrities such as Piolo Pascual and Joshua Garcia. 

Vendors’ group is top ad spender in party-list race

The Vendors party-list group is the top ad spender among party-list groups from January to September 2024. The group aired TV ads worth P12.25 million, a big chunk of its P14.8 million advertising budget for the period. ‘

The group has enjoyed a wide media coverage through Deo Balbuena, who is popular online as “Diwata.” Balbuena is the group’s fourth nominee. (Party-list groups may only have a maximum of three seats.)

More party-list groups advertised on outdoor media. Ten had billboards worth P1 million to a little over P13 million across the country over the nine-month period. 

Talino at Galing Pinoy, the second biggest ad spender in the race so far, poured its budget on billboards. Its exposure was worth over P13 million nationwide, or almost the entirety of its P14 million total budget for traditional media. 

Its top nominee, incumbent Rep. Jose Teves, is the father of Mayor Paolo Teves of Baras town in Catanduanes.  

Party-list groups collect votes nationwide, like the senators. In the previous 2022 elections, the ACT-CIS party-list group of former broadcaster Erwin Tulfo topped the race with over 2 million votes. It was given two seats.

The last party-list seat was given to Akbayan. It received 236,226 votes.

Camarines Sur, Pangasinan races

Franco is also concerned that the candidates are already using their own money to fund their campaigns. 

“It gives me a sense they are already using their own money. Candidates cannot use their own money. When you have a stake in elections pending, all the more, you will be corrupt,” she said. 

Some local races are also increasingly becoming more expensive. 

Camarines Sur gubernatorial candidate LRay Villafuerte was the biggest spender among local candidates before the CoC filing in October based on the data from Nielsen Ad Intel. He aired TV ads worth P355.7 million, higher than the budget of many senatorial candidates. 

Other local candidates spent their advertising budget on radio spots and print ads, which are cheaper than TV spots. 

Pangasinan politicians are among the biggest spenders on radio. 

Bad laws

Comelec has attempted but failed to ban premature campaigning and limit campaign spending.  It previously lost Supreme Court cases that would have banned campaigning before the official campaign period and would have set a limit on TV and radio advertising minutes allowed per candidate.

The Supreme Court ruling in Penera vs Comelec has placed a heavy constraint on the Comelec. The high court upheld that a person becomes a candidate only upon the start of the campaign period—which in this election season starts on Feb. 12 for national candidates and March 28 for local candidates. 

“A candidate is liable for election offenses only upon the start of the campaign period,” the ruling said. 

It means all expenditures before the campaign period would not be counted against the allowable spending of candidates.

“The problem is the law itself. The Supreme Court decision is a correct interpretation of a bad law,” said Guia. 

Laws need to be amended, including the Omnibus Election Code, said Guia and Aguirre. But Congress has sat down on proposed amendments to the 1985 law, which is two years older than the Philippine Constitution.

Politicians have not shown an appetite to change the status quo that benefits them, said Guia. “It works perfectly well for those who benefit under the current system. Why would they change it?”

Read more: Political dynasties also swarm the party-list elections