The lack of specific laws on the use of excess campaign donations has led to windfall income for some candidates.

Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso is facing a campaign overspending complaint that may go to court. But it has been almost 10 years since he spent more than the limit and five years since the preliminary investigation, raising concerns about the poll body’s heavy backlog and a possible violation of the right to a speedy disposition of the case.

Big donors who gave P10 million to P20 million accounted for only 19% of Vice President Leni Robredo’s campaign funds for the May 2022 presidential elections. The rest came from a long list of relatively small donors.

Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte each won landslide victories in the May 2022 polls, but their spending is worlds apart. Duterte spent only P3 per voter to win a national post. Marcos spent P9.60 per voter, almost breaking the spending cap.