This audit covers 20 candidates for senator listed in Pulse Asia’s latest nationwide survey on the May 2019 Senatorial Elections that was conducted from December 14 to 21, 2018 using face-to-face interviews. These candidates are also among those most actively engaged in social media.

From January 2018 to January 2019, the combined ad spending of 18 candidates on TV, radio, print, and outdoor ads have reached PhP2.4 billion, by the rate card of media agencies monitored by Nielsen Media. Yet, just a few have net worth values bigger than their respective adspend.

MARAWI CITY — As early as September last year – while battles were still going on here — the Provincial Government of Lanao del Sur and the Marawi City government had submitted a Joint Recovery, Rehabilitation, and Peacebuilding Plan not only for the country’s only Islamic city, but also for the affected towns in Lanao del Sur. With the Plan received by Task Force Bangon Marawi (TFBM), the hundreds of thousands of Marawi residents displaced by the conflict waited for feedback, if not for any announcements of specific steps to be taken in order for their city to rise again.