Campaign Finance

Disclosing campaign contributions

Wednesday, 09 June 2010 00:24 Noemi Lardizabal-Dado

Update: deadline extended to June 24.

The long wait is over. Today our new president and vice-president will be proclaimed by the 14^th Congress. Before we are lost in the revelry, the celebration of a new lease in our “non-existent democracy”, let’s not forget June 9 is also the deadline of candidates to file their campaign contributions and expenditures of the May 2010 elections to the Commission on Elections (Comelec). Candidates, both losers and winners also need to pay the the five percent campaign tax to the Bureau of Internal Revenue on June 10.

Even before the campaign period started, Blog Watch showed pertinent Campaign Finance Laws so that voters will be vigilant. We held these public officers accountable to the people. We needed to make sure that our candidates are transparent as to the sources of their campaign money and the true extent of their elections spending as this would impact directly on the candidates’ governance upon assumption to office. Campaign spending was not given enough importance in the past elections unlike voting and counting procedures. At the end of the elections, the usual practice is to celebrate the victory, look at disputes, but forget about the finances.

Electrons, Pixels, and Pesos: A look at online campaign finance

Monday, 28 December 2009 18:55 Jester In Exile

The grass is greener on the other side of the digital divide, but not much attention has been given on the costs of online advertising, especially such campaigns for the benefit of political candidates. Taking off from the theme of previous posts "Politics in the Age of AdSense -- A View of the Polit...

Campaign ads and election spending: Getting a layman's sense of the spending

Saturday, 26 December 2009 16:15 Jester In Exile

With virtually no limits on advertising -- except for election spending -- the PR people of candidates have pretty much free rein in the type of marketing that they can use to present their candidate in the best possible light. The law is clear on the limits, and the penalties for violating the law ...

Politics in the Age of AdSense: A view of the political campaign landscape online

Friday, 18 December 2009 09:26 Jester In Exile

Aspirants to political office know that the key to electoral victory is to have their names on top of everyone's minds and favorably so, and in a manner not too different from selling haircare products and laundry detergent they must themselves be marketed in a positive light. However, the Philippin...

Recording and reportorial requirements (Part 3)

Friday, 11 December 2009 10:43 Noemi Lardizabal-Dado

Mikey Arroyo blew the whistle on himself when he declared on national television that campaign contributions and wedding gifts were partly the reason his declared net worth ballooned from P5.7 million in 2001 to P74.4 million in 2004 and then to P99.2 million last year. Mikey wed Angela Arroyo Montene...

What are the Lawful Expenses of a Candidate? (Part 2)

Wednesday, 02 December 2009 11:10 Noemi Lardizabal-Dado

Blogwatch.ph stress the importance of campaign finance because candidates need to be transparent in Election Campaign sourcing and the true extent of their elections spending as this would impact directly on the candidates’ governance upon assumption to office. The first series laid out sources of ca...

Do you know where candidates get their campaign funds? (Part 1)

Monday, 30 November 2009 17:06 Noemi Lardizabal-Dado

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's (PGMA) congressional bid received a lot of angry reactions from social media platforms ranging from garapal to Kapampangans, the nation and the world watching you! Reject GMA!

The news is disturbing to most Filipinos but let us not neglect equally critical election i...

Know your candidate's campaign spending

Monday, 23 November 2009 10:06 Noemi Lardizabal-Dado

( Download the ebook on Basic Guide to the Laws and Rules Governing Election Finance in the Philippines .)

You’ve seen the infomercials before.

Senator Manny Villar gives you a tour of his old home in Tondo and helping out our Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW). Just last October, TV ads started coming out wit...