Lacson denies being campaign top spender among May 2022 presidential bets
Partido Reporma standard bearer Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Sunday disputed reports he spent about P915.3-million last year for television, radio, print and outdoor billboard advertisements saying they have no such huge funds to spend for their May 2022 election campaign.
“I asked my campaign team, volunteers and supporters about this. They insisted that they never saw, much less had this much money,” Lacson said on his Twitter account.
“(There’s) no way we could have spent what we didn’t have. I asked them to check again—same answer,” he further said.
Lacson was reacting to a Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) report claiming that he is the top spender on traditional media ads among presidential aspirant in 2021.
According to the PCIJ report, which cited data company Nielsen, Lacson spent P496.68-million in November 2021, or a month after the filing of certificates of candidacy (COC).
Manila Mayor Isko Moreno and Vice President Leni Robredo followed with P735.44-million and P500.47-million, based on the report.
The same report said former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. was the fout highest spender at P330-million, while Sen. Manny Pacquiao spent the least in traditional media using only P1.7-million.
The PCIJ said it based the amounts it reported on published rate cards “before discounts were given to his campaign team.”