Who Funds the Huge Campaign Expenses of Senators?

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza, MPA

        A Philippines Senator receives P204, 000 monthly or P17, 136,000 for his/her six years’ term including his/her 14^th month pay (Yes Virginia! Government workers in the Philippines received their 13^th and 14^th months pays nowadays).

Photo is internet grabbed.

       Why on hell that some of the candidates of the same office could spend more or less P1 billion each just to win a post that gives each of the 24 members only more than P17 million salary in six years? Quite an incredible amount that could baffle an ordinary spectator.

     I could understand Las Piñas City Congresswoman Camille Villar who according to the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) -- whose report it sourced from Nielsen Ad Intel -- that she already spent P1 billion from March to September last year alone. She’s the daughter of an oligarch who owned the multi-billion pesos Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. (a major property developer), Starmalls, Inc. (a shopping mall chain), and Golden Haven, Inc. (a memorial park operator). 

      “Villar, who did not begin advertising until August, spent P100,000 on ads in March and then escalated her ad campaigns in the months leading up to the filing of certificates of candidacy (COCs) in October. Her spending peaked in August with P598 million worth of ads and continued in September with P477 million in ads, ultimately reaching P1 billion in total,” according to the PCIJ’s article early this year.

      How about reelective Senator Imee Marcos and those spending in the past polls of incumbent Senators Win Gatchalian, Alan Peter Cayetano, and Joel Villanueva?

        News reports said that each of them spent more or less P1 billion just to win an office with a six-year’s term based in Pasay City.

       For her reelection bids this year, Marcos began her campaign advertising, PCIJ continued, as early as January 2024, initially airing 271 television and radio advertisements worth P21 million. By September 2024, the number of her ad spots had surged to 1,145, totaling P303 million for the month and contributing to her overall spending of P1 billion in 2024, susmariosep!

Photo Credit: Investopedia.com

       The combined advertisement expenditures of Marcos and Villar accounted for about 50% of the total P4.1 billion spent on political ads prior to the COC filing in October 1 to 8, 2024. These figures do not include production costs, social media campaigns, or other campaign-related expenses such as office maintenance and staff salaries. It means with the P1 billion each, Camille and Imee would be still spending hundreds of millions of pesos since they have to ingratiate themselves to voters until the May 12, 2025 D-Day.

A 30-second campaign political advertisement could go as high as P1.4 million for primetime in ABS-CBN TV when it was still operating, while an ad on primetime for GMA-7 TV costs less than half at around P600,000.         

    When senatorial candidate Harry Roque, former spokesman of President Rodrigo Duterte, withdrew his senatorial bid, he told in the vernacular GMA-7 Super Radyo (DZBB 594) broadcaster Mike Enriquez when the latter asked him: “Sinabi ninyo na ang kandidato sa pagka senador ay dapat gumastos ng minimum na P500 million at hindi ka pa siguradong mananalo doon?”

    Roque answered: “Pag senador useless mamudmod ng pera hindi mo kakayanin iyan. Hindi mo kakayanin na mag vote buy sa national scale dahil napakalaking pera. Ang gastos mo pag ikaw ang tatakbong senador ads. Kaya sino ang nangangalampag sa survey iyong maaga pa lang nag ads na iyong mga walang palya nandiyan iyong advertisement. So walang pagkakaiba sa pagbebenta ng softdrinks sa pagbenta ng sino dapat maging senators. Nakakasalalay po iyan sa ads”.

    Enriquez: “Halimbawa gumastos nga kayo ng P500 milyon pero may mga negosyante na nag-aambag bilang parang tinatayaan ang kandidato?”

     Roque explained the P500 million financial chest of a senatorial bet and the businessmen behind him/her: “Alam mo sa totoo lang ng araw na pupunta ako sa Commission on Election para mag withdraw tatlong tycoons ang nag text sa akin na kunin mo na ang tulong namin para sa iyo”.

    These tycoons are those who run the country’s telecommunication, power, mall, airline, or other mammoth industries who want protection from the almost 24 Senators not to pass a law that could undermine their enterprises.

     When a Senator from the Liberal Party – who is running again for the 2025 senate race --during the administration of President Benigno Aquino arrived at the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR) in Brgy. Bonuan Binloc, Dagupan City, I asked his pilot if the solon owned the helicopter the latter rode from Manila.

 He answered in the negative but told me that Filipino senators are free to use the helicopters, planes, and jets owned by one of the two major telecommunication corporations in the Philippines.

I have a picture I took from my phone then of the tail number of the chopper.

      Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) under Manny Pangilinan and Globe Telecommunication run by Ayala Corporation are duopoly in the Philippines during the Aquino’s administration. It means both of them earn profit from the Filipinos who subscribed on their services and they don’t worry about tight competition and excellent services until Elon Musk’s Starlink gave them a threat of a run for their money after the Public Service Act (PSA) was approved in 2022 in the country during the last year of the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.

      Other brewery and other industries’ Captains lent for gratis too their aircraft to Senators whenever they are in a stump to the different parts of the country. When I asked Senator Risa Hontiveros if the procrastination of the senators to pass significant economics laws like the PSA happened because of the lobby funds, the airplanes, and helicopters lend to them by the taipans, she told me I could be either correct or wrong.
"Ahh, maaring tama kayo o maaring hindi. Alam ninyo naman pag kandidato lalo na pag reelectionist merong kunsiderasyon..."

       What are the fears of these taipans that they have to shell-out hundreds of millions of pesos just to see a popular senatorial candidate wins?

       First, they don’t want that their businesses threatened by foreign competitors that it took decades for the senators "for sale" before they passed the PSA or Commonwealth Act No. 146 in 2022 -- thanks to the lobbying of the oligarchs as many of us suspected.

       PSA covers all types of common carriers, be it by land, air or water, water supplies and systems, petroleum, electricity, communications systems and even broadcasting stations.

        Because of exasperation, then House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez derogatorily called the House of Senate or the upper house as Mabagal na  Kapulungan (slow moving upper house). The more or less 300 members of the House of Representatives have been approving the PSA since time immemorial but the 24 Senators kept procrastinating on it.

     Why? Taipans probably found it hard to bankroll the reelection of the big numbers of the members of the lower house that could bankrupt them but beer money only to bribe most of the popular candidates for the minuscule 12 senate’s office.

      Presently, we have the Top 6 (out of the Magic 12) from the highest to the lowest based on the January 18 to 25, 2025 Pulse Asia Survey as probable shoo-in for the May 12 election almost three months as of this writing.

1.       Erwin Tulfo; 2. Bong Go; 3. Tito Sotto; 4. Ben Tulfo; 5. Pia Cayetano; 6. Bong Revilla.

    When I interviewed Senator Grace Poe at Gerry’s Restaurant & Bar at Robinson’s Calasiao in Pangasinan as part of her senatorial sorties all over the country, I asked her in a mixed of Tagalog and English: “Congressmen buy votes to win, a senator buys television ads to be victorious. Mostly consistent kayong No. 1 sa poll, ilan ang TV ads ninyo sa major televisions’ GMA-7 and ABS-CBN?”.

She told me: “Marami rami rin. Ah, hindi naman ganoon karami katulad ng iba pero ang importante kasi sa lawak ng Pilipinas hindi maabot mo ang lahat ng mga bumoboto. E paniwalaan natin o hindi lahat naman ng nanood ng television kahit ano ang mangyari kahit pilitin sarili mo sa lahat ng pupuntan lahat ng liblib…”.

       The PSA was approved thankfully through the “arms twisting” of the solons by President Rodrigo Duterte, as I mentioned earlier, in March 21, 2022 through Republic Act No. 11659 (RA 11659) because of the deafening public clamors. The amendment modernized the regulation of public services in the Philippines.

Key Changes

• Redefined public utilities: Public utilities are now limited to essential services like water, electricity, and sewage systems. 
• Removed nationality restrictions: Foreign investors can now fully own public utility companies. 
• Introduced a regulatory framework: The amendment encourages competition and protects consumer interests. 
• Defined public services: The amendment clarifies the difference between public services and public utilities. 
• Imposed a reciprocity clause: Foreign nationals can't own more than 50% of the capital of critical infrastructure entities unless the foreign country grants similar rights to Philippine nationals. 
  
  
  

Purpose of the Amendment

      The goal is to provide efficient, reliable, and affordable services to all. The amendment is expected to attract more foreign investments and promote competition. 

        But it is still not the silver bullet to salvage the Philippines from the morass of poverty because as based on the 2023 manufacturing data by the World Bank, our country is still at the cellar of the countries in the Southeast Asian Region with most exports that give jobs to their people. Unlike the Filipinos who go overseas to find works and be abused there, most of the people of these countries work in their land and be with their family and kin -- a pipe dream for many of the sorry Filipinos.

        The top manufacturers with their earnings on billions of U.S dollars on that year in the Southeast Asian countries as based on this 2023 findings are (ranks from the highest to lowest):

1.       Indonesia (US$ 255, 961.88); 2. Thailand ($128, 271.44); 3. Vietnam ($102, 628.31); 4. Malaysia ($92, 116.56); 5. Singapore ($88, 498.38); 6. Philippines ($70, 896.29); 7. Myanmar ($15, 911.60); 8. Cambodia ($5, 815.56); 9. Brunei ($2, 816.56); 10. Laos ($1,465.16); 11. Timor-Leste ($41.41).

We Need to Amend the Xenophobic 60-40% Economics Equity in the Constitution

    We need to amend the anti-foreign investors economic provision of our Constitution where Filipinos are given 60% of the ownership of an industry while a deep pocketed foreign trader settled for 40% thus the latter goes to China, Thailand, Indonesia, or Vietnam where he could own 100% of the business there.

The industries that may be amended are the following: 

• Public utilities: The 40% foreign ownership limit for public utilities may be removed.
• Education: The 40% foreign ownership limit for educational institutions may be removed.
• Media and advertising: The 40% foreign ownership limit for media and advertising firms may be removed.

     One of the three methods to amend the economic provision of the 1987 Constitution is through a constituent assembly.

A constituent assembly is composed of all members of the Senate and the House of Representatives. It is convened by Congress to propose the amendments to the fundamental law of the land. Under Article XVII of the Constitution, amendments pass upon a vote of three fourths of all members of Congress, wherein the Congress votes as separate houses for the amendment.

The constituent assembly is the easiest way to amend the Constitution compared to the people’s initiative and the constitutional convention as seen on the past experiences.

But with the present set up of the Senate where our lawmakers are seen as rent-seeking, the future of the Filipinos to be unshackled from the bondage of poverty is as dark as the alkitran (Visayan word for tar or pitch) and the aspalto (asphalt) of the DPWH or Departamento ng P*tang –ina at mga Walang Hiya, err, Department of Public Works & Highway, hahaha! 

My apology for the misspellings and the bastardization of some words!

(Note: Author is an Associate Professor of Economics and Political Science)