Due to the huge amount of money spent by some politicians who are running for President of the Philippines, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago has called for lifestyle checks on her rivals in view of the “controverisl amounts” they have spent for advertisements.
Sen. Santiago questioned how the other presidential aspirants can afford to spend beyond the wealth they declared in their statements of assets liabilities, and net worths (SALN) for their campaign.
“They spent at least five times the net worth they have declared for ads. One candidate even spent 17 times his net worth. Where did they get the money? If the public is to speculate, they would think that these candidates have either stolen from public funds or peddled their influence,” the senator said.
The statement of presidential candidate Sen. Santiago comes on the heels of a Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) report that four of the five presidential candidates have collectively spent some P3.2 billion in ads from January 2015 to January 2016, or before the campaign period.
Based upon the PCIJ report, VP Binay was allegedly the top spender, having placed P1.15 billion worth of ads, way over his net worth of P60.2 million in 2014. VP Binay was followed by Sen. Grace Poe, who reportedly spent P1.016 billion on ads despite a net worth of P89.5 million.
Liberal Party standard-bearer Mar Roxas spent around P969 million but listed a net worth of P202 million while Davao City Mayor spent P146 million despite a net worth of P21.97 million.
The senator added that although accepting campaign contributions is standard practice during elections, the candidates are nonetheless obliged to reveal their donors and to pay taxes for contributions received outside of the campaign period.
