By Meanne Corvera
Eagle News Service
Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III wants the rates of political ad placements in traditional media slashed by up to 50 percent
In a statement, Pimentel said this was to prevent elected politicians from engaging in corrupt activities.
“The reason we have campaign spending limits is due to the temptation for corruption generated by excessive expenses during a campaign. Some politicians think it entitles them to ‘recoup’ their ‘investment’ using public funds,” he said.
In arguing for the same, Pimentel added under Article II, Section 26 of the Constitution, the state has the obligation to ensure equal access to public service.
He said in this case, there were candidates who, while qualified, could not cope with competition because of the rates of ad placements.
Based on a Commission on Elections report on the 2016 national elections, presidential candidates spent from P100 to P300 million for this, or P2.25 million for each hour their political ads came out.
He said experience and knowledge, and not money, should be the bases for a candidate to be elected into office.
Under Pimentel’s Senate Bill 1777 that seeks to amend Republic Act 9006 or the Fair Election Act, rates for the placement of political ads on television were slashed by P50 percent, in radio by 30 percent, and in print by 20 percent.
” In order to pre-empt media entities from spiking their rates immediately prior to an election, the rates will be based on an average of rates charged to their most favored advertisers during the first three quarters of the two calendar years preceding the elections,” Pimentel said.