Villar, Roxas, Gatchalian top party donors

MANILA, Philippines - The country’s most prominent families were the biggest donors to political parties in the just concluded May 13 elections.

The Statements of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCEs) filed with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) showed the families of outgoing Sen. Manny Villar, Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II and businessman William Gatchalian of Valenzuela coughed up multi-million pesos for the war chests of Nacionalista Party (NP), Liberal Party (LP) and United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), respectively.

Villar donated a total of P63,200,000 while his sons Mark and Paolo gave P5 million each to NP. This accounts for more than half of the P123,600,000 in contributions received by the party.

Television host Willie Revillame, a known supporter of the Villar family, also donated P5 million to NP.

The SOCE of LP showed Roxas, its on-leave president, had donated P5.7 million to the party while his mother Judy Roxas and uncle Jorge Araneta infused P25 million and P20 million, respectively.

The other donors are Ruby Roxas, P3 million; Jose Fores, P 2 million; Jorge Fores, P4 million, and Manuel R. Roxas, P3 million.

Sen. Franklin Drilon, LP campaign manager, donated P1 million to the party.

LP had declared receiving contributions amounting to P183,200,000 and expenditures of P182,528,193.09.

For UNA, the biggest donor is Gatchalian who contributed P20 million. The political coalition received a total of P72,750,025 in contributions and spent P72,361,396.44 in the campaign.

Gatchalian, whose fortune was built on plastic, is the father of Valenzuela City Mayor Sherwin and congressman Rex, who successfully traded positions in the recent polls.