Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago is alarmed about the hefty campaign spending of presidential bets.
She said voters should view the hundreds of billions spent even before the campaign period for national positions – which begins in February – as a possible corruption issue.
She asked – how will candidates recover these amounts?
Media research firm Nielsen released initial data on how much politicians have spent on ads from January to December last year.
Vice President Jejomar Binay was the biggest spender with roughly half a billion pesos.
Sen. Grace Poe and former Interior Sec. Manuel “Mar” Roxas II trail Binay – with over P4 million pesos each for TV, radio, and print ads.
Santiago, who is also running for president, said almost all candidates spent beyond the limit of P545 million for the campaign.
While the campaign election period began on January 10, the campaign for national candidates begins only on February 9. That’s when the Commission on Elections will start keeping tabs of expenses.
