Pre-campaign TV, radio ads exceed P10B before discounts. Why should voters be concerned?

The unlimited spending spree is over for senatorial candidates and party-list groups. We should see less of their ads on TV and on the streets, and hear less of them over the radio.

Laws limiting political advertising were finally in effect on Tuesday, February 11, when the country entered the campaign period for the national elections.

The legal framework for elections in the Philippines is “laughable,” former Commission on Elections commissioner Luie Tito Guia told me. We allow candidates to campaign without limitations outside the campaign period and then control them when it’s officially time to campaign.

Indeed. Candidates in the 2025 elections have aired pre-campaign TV and radio ads costing more than P10 billion based on published rate cards or before discounts, according to data obtained by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) from Nielsen Ad Intel. 

In December, a daily average of 171 television ads aired when Filipinos were expected to stay home for the holidays. 

Click to read our report. We hope you can share them on your websites and social media pages. The materials are here.

Two candidates aired ads worth more or less P2 billion from January to December last year. Everything is legal because the limits apply only during the campaign period.

“It is not illegal, but is it not immoral?” asked Angel “Lito” Averia Jr. of the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections. 

If candidates’ ads last year were covered by campaign finance laws, the top spenders would need, on top of the 50% discounts legally mandated under Republic Act No. 11207, an additional 79% stacked discount to keep the cost within the limits. 

Senatorial candidates with political parties are allowed to spend P3 for every registered voter. With 68,618,667 registered voters in the May 2025 elections, it’s equivalent to P205.86 million.

Check our computation here.

I sought the help of former Commissioner Guia and Legal Network for Truthful Elections executive director Rona Ann Caritos for the applicable laws to compute the discounts that candidates would need to get from TV stations if they are to keep within spending limits. I’m entirely responsible for the math. 

PCIJ considers campaign finance as the most important aspect of elections because of its lasting impact beyond election day. The rising cost of elections disadvantages qualified candidates who do not have access to substantial resources. How candidates fund their campaigns can also lead to conflicts of interest if they win. 

It is true that the spending limits for candidates are no long realistic, watchdogs have said. Last I heard, top celebrity endorsers can fetch up to eight digits.

This is the other point. What can we expect if the rules governing our elections is a 1985 law — the Omnibus Election Code? It is older than the 1987 Constitution.

It underscores the need for urgent election reforms, which watchdogs have been tirelessly pushing but lawmakers do not seem to have the appetite for. The watchdogs get the sense that lawmakers only have time to pass laws postponing election schedules. 

The neglect is deliberate, observers believe. Why would lawmakers change laws that benefit them?

Averia said aspirants should have been considered candidates as soon as they filed their certificates of candidacy (COCs)  in October. Instead, for about four months between the October filing of COC and the February start of the campaign period, the aspirants advertised with impunity because the laws only take effect in February.

Guia said it was intentional on the part of lawmakers — not a phrasing error in the law — to consider election aspirants as candidates when the campaign period officially begins. He said Penera vs Comelec, the reason premature campaigning is not illegal, was a correct interpretation of a bad law. 

Before the country’s elections were automated, there was a short gap between the filing of COCs and the campaign period. The ballots needed little preparation because voters simply wrote the candidates’ names. With automation, the filing of COCs was advanced to make time to prepare ballots that required candidates’ names printed so that voters can shade corresponding ovals that the machines will count. 

Watchdogs are calling for practical and appropriate laws. It’s not just the campaign finance laws that require reforms. Watchdogs have a long list, including the implementation of the constitutional ban on political dynasties. 

Follow PCIJ’s coverage of the midterm elections to continue these discussions: www.pcij.org/elections. 

Maraming salamat po!