Presidential candidate Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said he has no idea about the running cost of his campaign activities, which he claimed was being funded by his friends.

Presidential aspirant Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. (NOEL PABALATE / MANILA BULLETIN)

In SMNI’s presidential debate on Tuesday night, Feb. 15, Marcos Jr. said he hasn't been tracking his campaign expenses although his camp is willing to release their Statement of Contribution and Expenditures (SOCE) once the campaign period is over.

"Kami ay iniimbita lamang ng mga organizers diyan... kaya sabi namin wag niyo pahabain. Wag niyong gagawin ito, ang gawin nalang natin magtanim tayo ng kahoy. Sinasabi nila, gusto pa rin namin magcaravan. Hindi naman namin maipigil dahil walang hinihingi samin, kaya wala kaming gastos doon (We're being invited by the organizers, so sometimes we would tell not to prolong the events. We would also tell them, maybe we could just plant trees. But they would insist to hold caravans. We could not stop them because they were not asking anything from us, we didn't spend for anything)," he said, referring to his campaign sorties.

The former senator further said that most of his donations were "in kind".

"Sa awa ng diyos eh marami pa naman tayong kaibigan na handang tumulong na magpahiram ng kanilang mga eroplano, ng kanilang mga helicopter (With God's mercy, we still have friends who are willing to lend us their airplanes and helicopters)," he added.

Since the campaign period kicked off on Feb. 8, Marcos Jr. has been touring different provinces and cities in Metro Manila. There was even a day when he had a proclamation rally in Tuguegarao in Cagayan in the morning, then another rally in Quezon City at night.

Prior to the campaign season, he would also go to different provinces in Visayas and Mindanao to extend assistance to victims of typhoon "Odette".

Marcos Jr., the leading candidate in the recent presidential surveys, said his arrangement with his friends who have been helping him in his campaign is only "gratis et amore" or giving back by giving thanks.

Asked if he could give an estimate at least of his campaign expenses so far, he said: "No, I cannot because I'm not following because we didn't do an accounting before Feb. 8."

But, he added, once the campaign season is over, he will release his SOCE, "where you can see who were the donors, how much they gave and where did they money go".

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