Media networks told: Declare expenditures of candidates’ campaign ads

JANUARY 09, 2025 (FOR FILE) Comelec Chairman Atty. George Erwin Garcia. | PHOTO: Screengrabbed from COMELEC

MANILA, Philippines — Newspapers, television and radio stations should properly report the expenditures of candidates in airing their campaign advertisements for the 2025 elections, according to Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia on Friday.

Garcia said that this will reflect how much the candidates spent for their election campaign.

“Our only goal is truthful news and reporting on the actual expenses of candidates and party-lists in their stations,” Garcia said in Filipino during an ambush interview.

Garcia also said that the media networks should also disclose their contracts with the candidates.

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“Don’t settle with two contracts, a legitimate contract while the other one is not. I believe that the stations will not allow that,” Garcia added in Filipino.

Comelec Resolution No. 11109 or the “Rules and Regulations Governing Campaign Finance Disclosure” for the 2025 elections states that a candidate or a party-list can make any expenditure “[f]or newspaper, radio, television and other advertisements for purposes of promoting the candidacy, including website or internet ad placements, subject to existing rules and regulations on the broadcast advertising.”

Garcia also previously shared that for campaign advertisements aired on television, national candidates are given 120 minutes of air time per station while 60 minutes per station are given to local candidates.

For radio advertisements, national candidates are allowed 180 minutes per station while local candidates are allocated 90 minutes per station.

In a Viber message, Garcia said that non-disclosure of media networks on the expenditures for airing campaign advertisements is a violation of Republic Act 9006 or the Fair Election Act and Comelec guidelines.

He added that the networks’ officials may face an election offense of one to six years imprisonment.

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Meanwhile, the Comelec will now allow the presumption of paid services of election bets to any influencer, celebrity, or content creator who will campaign and support them for the 2025 elections.

Garcia previously said that this is to properly account and monitor the expenditures of candidates and to give an “equal opportunity” for all candidates since not every aspirant can hire well-known figures to campaign for them.

According to the same resolution, the candidates and authorized representatives of party-lists shall file their statements of contribution and expenditures within 30 days after the elections, whether they were elected or not, or withdraw their candidacy, unless the candidacy was done before the campaign period.

The resolution added that “[f]or the commission of a second or subsequent offense, a higher administrative fine shall be imposed against the offender and shall be subjected to perpetual disqualification to hold public office.”