GO uncertain how long campaign funds would last

DAVAO CITY – San Juan Mayor and Genuine Opposition campaign manager JV Ejercito said he is uncertain how long the existing campaign funds of the coalition would last as sources have become scarce as the May 14 elections draw nearer.

"I do not know how long would our funds last but we are making sure that these would reach the homestretch of the elections. I do not know how long the fuel would last," Ejercito said.

Ejercito said that compared to the administration’s Team Unity, which has enough sources to fund their campaign, the GO has only a trickle of what its rival has.

"But we are making do with what we have the best way we can with our available resources at hand," Ejercito added.

He said the bulk of the funds GO uses now is contributed by his father, detained former President Joseph Estrada, and by the different political parties led by Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino-Laban’s Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay.

However, he declined to tell exactly how much of the opposition’s financial resource was bankrolled by his father for the coming midterm elections.

Ejercito said that the usual sources of funds, coming from supporters of his father, have refrained from contributing to the coffers of GO.

"The faucet is really closed for us when it comes to funds. Our usual donors have not given anything for fear that the administration might take it against them," Ejercito said.

He said they could not even do a decent campaign as a coalition.

"We are really short of funds. And our candidates pay for their own and that of their staff’s expenses whenever we have out-of town sorties," Ejercito said.

To cut costs, he said as GO’s campaign manager he also serves as a jack-of-all-trades.

"It is some kind of a multi-tasking. I do anything and everything. Look, I am the campaign manager, but I am also the floor director, the scriptwriter and the emcee whenever we have rallies. That is to show you that we do not have the funds to pay for the people who would carry out those tasks for us in the GO," Ejercito said.

But he said he was delighted and overwhelmed by the response of the people here during the GO’s three-day sortie here in Southern Mindanao that ended up with the oath-taking yesterday of Davao del Norte Gov. Gelacio Gementiza into the opposition.

The complete slate of opposition senators was present during Thursday night’s rally here at the Rizal Park that Ejercito described as a "resounding success."

"I am happy with how the rally turned out and how well our candidates have been received," he said.

Ejercito explained that based on the reception in the different areas the opposition candidates have gone to, it would appear that most of the GO bets would make it to the Senate.

"Most of them would make it," said Ejercito, adding that he only has two more weeks to go as GO campaign manager and after which he would have to be replaced by Sen. Serge Osmeña.