MANILA, Philippines – Even though the campaign period for the 2025 midterm elections has not yet begun, Senator Imee Marcos and Las Piñas Rep. Camille Villar have already spent billion on advertisements, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) reported.
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| Imee Marcos and Camille Villar spent billion on ads in pre-election campaign period. |
As early as January 2024, the sister of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. already aired 271 TV and radio ad spots worth P21 million, according to the PCIJ report.
Marcos’ political ads from January to September 2024 amounted to P1 billion, according to data obtained by PCIJ from the Nielsen Ad Intel.
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| President Bongbong Marcos and Senator Imee Marcos. Photo courtesy: ABS-CBN News |
Aside from Marcos, another senatorial candidate was reported to have spent a lot of money and this is Camille Villar, daughter of former Senate President and richest Filipino Manny Villar and current Senator Cynthia Villar.
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| Camille and her father Manny Villar. Photo courtesy: Facebook/Camille Villar |
According to the report, she had ads worth P100,000 in March 2024 but all of a sudden her ads suddenly appeared on TV and radio stations.
She had ads worth P598 million in August 2024 and P477 million in September last year.
The report further added that as of December 2024, Villar was already the top spender on Facebook and recorded paying Meta P13 million to boost her posts.
On the other hand, aside from the huge amount of money spent by Marcos and Villar, several senatorial candidates have also spent millions on ads.
In the PCIJ report, Makati City Mayor Abigail Binay, Senator Francis Tolentino and former Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos aired ads worth P300 million to P500 million.
Campaign funds traditionally usually come from donors to fund election activities but it turns out some candidates are using personal funds or relying on family members for support.
"It’s because the candidates are businessmen themselves,” according to former Commission on Elections commissioner Luie Guia.
Meanwhile, according to PCIJ’s interviewees, there could be several motivations behind candidates' heavy ad spending which includes not being satisfied with their survey position and also ads are intended to increase awareness to gain the support of voters.
"The closer you are in the 12th place, the smaller the margin there is that separates you from the 13th placer. No one wants to be in that place in a Philippine senatorial election,” said Arjan Aguirre, assistant professor at the Ateneo de Manila University.
— Carl Santiago, The Summit Express
