House OKs hike in poll spending for presidential bets

The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a bill that increases from P10 to P50 the allowable amount a presidential candidate can spend for each voter.

House Bill 7295 got an overwhelming vote of 179-0 on Tuesday from members of the super majority coalition.

The consolidated measure consisting of nine bills seeks to amend Republic Act 7166, or the law on electoral reforms specifically synchronizing national and local elections. The 27-year-old RA 7166 sets the limits for campaign expenditure.

Also under HB 7295, vice presidential candidates may spend no more than P40 for each voter, while a voter spending cap of P30 is required for candidates for senator, district congressmen, governor, vice governor, board member, mayor, vice mayor and councilor.

Party-list groups would be allowed to spend P10 for each voter.

On the other hand, political parties may provide a budget of P30 for every voter as campaign expenditure in an election.

A candidate without any political party or support from a political party may be allowed to spend P40 for each voter.

A candidate is considered an independent candidate if he is not a nominee of any duly registered political party or coalition of political parties, or if he repudiates nomination from a political party.

Authors and proponents of the bill include House deputy speakers Fredenil Castro and Gwendolyn Garcia, Reps. Salvio Fortuno (Camarines Sur), Henry Oaminal (Misamis Occidental), Rosenda Ann Ocampo (Manila) and Micaela Violago (Nueva Ecija).

In authoring the bill, the lawmakers stressed the need to increase the current allowable expenditures for election campaign so that candidates would be encouraged to declare their true and actual election campaign expenses as required by law.

“The paramount objective of this measure is to make the authorized campaign expenditures for all the candidates and political parties more realistic so that no candidate would ever be penalized on the basis of an antiquated law,” Fortuno said.

National Citizen’s Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) secretary-general Eric Alvia said that while “it is about time that the campaign spending limit be increased,” the adjustment may also prevent poor candidates from seeking elective posts.

“The idea is we want to make elections competitive. Now, if you’re going to increase the spending limit, we also have to make it inclusive,” Alvia said.

With higher spending cap, “people who will aspire for public office are those who have the resources to run a campaign,” he said.

“We really have to increase the spending limit but it should not be a stand alone bill. It should be a component of an overall reform on financing elections,” he pointed out.

Commission on Elections (Comelec) spokesman James Jimenez, on the other hand, welcomed the development, saying the “existing spending limits are unrealistic and predisposed to violations of law.”

“The current limit is so low that candidates may sometimes feel that they have no choice but to overspend. So an amendment that will make the spending limits more realistic is welcome,” he said.