Villar has most TV airtime so far - poll watchdog

Three presidential candidates have already used more than half of their allowed television airtime in two networks, a coalition monitoring campaign expenses bared Wednesday. According to Pera’t Pulitika (Money and politics), Sen. Manny Villar Jr. (Nacionalista Party) is the presidential candidate who has used the most airtime so far for his political advertisements. Candidates are given up to 120 minutes of airtime for their political ads for each TV network. Citing information from Nielsen Media, the group said Villar has already used 76.5 minutes both in GMA 7 and ABS-CBN, followed by former President Joseph Estrada (Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino) with 65 minutes (GMA 7) and 77.5 minutes (ABS-CBN), Sen. Benigno “Noynoy" Aquino III (Liberal Party) with 66 minutes (GMA 7) and 76 minutes (ABS-CBN), and Sen. Richard Gordon (Bagumbayan) with 48 minutes (GMA 7) and 52 minutes (ABS-CBN).

Covered by the monitoring was the period from February 9 to March 9, according to a report in GMA News’ “24 Oras." Candidates still have until May 8 to campaign. Malou Mangahas, executive director of the Philippine Center of Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), said a “gap" in the law could allow these candidates to circumvent the 120-minute airtime limit. “Maaaring magpalusot sila, halimbawa yung political party ang kanilang gamiting ad buyer, o kaya party-list groups (They can circumvent the airtime limit by using their political parties or a party-list group as the ad buyer)," she said. Lawyer Roberto Cadiz of Pera’t Pulitika said this practice leads to the “corruption of the party-list system." “Apparently some party-list groups are being created not so much to advocate minority interests or the underrepresented sector but to get around the campaign finance laws," he said. The group noted the similarity of the Akap Bata party-list group’s TV ad, which shows children singing about poverty, to Villar’s. Akap Bata, however, said it is aware of the comparison but added that Villar has nothing to do with them. - KBK, GMANews.TV