Lawmaker seeks increase in poll campaign spending

MANILA, Philippines - A lawmaker wants candidates for public office to be allowed to spend more for their election campaign.

Camarines Sur Rep. Salvio Fortuno has filed Bill 5241 seeking to increase the authorized campaign expenses of candidates and political parties.

He said the issue on campaign expenses “came to the fore amid the controversy generated by the disqualification of Laguna Gov. E. R. Ejercito, who was ousted by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for campaign overspending.

“Whatever the circumstances are, a law is a law. As the legal maxim states, dura lex sed lex – hard is the law but it is the law,” he said.

Fortuno noted that the Supreme Court upheld the Comelec decision disqualifying Ejercito on the basis of Republic Act 7166, which provides that a candidate is authorized to spend P3 for every voter registered in the constituency where he filed his certificate of candidacy.

“It is worth noting that the purchasing power of the Philippine peso has continuously diminished from the time RA 7166 took effect in 1991 up to the present due to numerous economic factors,” he said.

Quoting economist Romulo Emmanuel Miral Jr., he said a peso in 1991 was equivalent to P3.41 in 2013 based on the consumer price index.

“Considering the time and economic factors, there is need to increase this actual computation to meet the demands of the time when this proposed legislative measure is enacted into law,” he said.

The lawmaker proposed that the campaign spending limits be increased from P10 to P40 for every voter for presidential and vice presidential candidates; from P3 to P15 for other candidates, and from P5 to P20 per voter for political parties.