SENATOR Grace Poe emerged as the biggest spender among the five presidential candidates during this year’s elections, spending P510,845,262.56 from the P511,950,000 in donations based on her Statement of Contributions and Expenditures.
Vice President Jejomar Binay came in second, spending P463,375,216.37 from his total received donations of P463,453,000 cash.
President-elect Rodrigo Duterte spent P371,461,480.23, while Liberal Party standard bearer Manuel Roxas II was the only presidential candidate who failed to file his statement on time.
Meanwhile, vice presidential candidate Leni Robredo spent P419,664,130.60 in her campaign.
Duterte personally spent P200,000; P298,303,792 in cash donations and P76,705,682.90 in in-kind contributions.
Most of his contributors were businessman, with banana producer Antonio Floirendo Jr. giving him P75 million; Domingo Uy of Insular Village P30 million; Bienvenido Tan of San Antonio Village P20 million; Tomas Alcantara and Nicasio Alcantara of the power firm Alsons P12 million and P16 million, respectively; spouses Dennis Uy of Phoenix Petroleum P2 million and Cherylyn Uy of Chelsea shipping P5 million; Samuel Uy P30 million and Lorenzo Te with P30 million contribution.
Poe’s representative was able to file her SOCE minutes before the 5 p.m. deadline, while Liberal Party standard bearer Manuel Roxas II had yet to submit his report as of press time.
Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago was the first presidential aspirant to file her SOCE, declaring having received and spent P74,652,689.87.
Senator Francis Escudero was the second highest vice presidential campaign spender with P321.01 million followed by Duterte’s running mate Alan Peter Cayetano with P189.13 million.
Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. spent only P140.54 million followed by Antonio Trillanes IV with P61.90 million and Gringo Honasan with P26.26 million.
Among the eight winning senators who filed their SOCEs, Joel Villanueva spent the most (P163,787,074.02) followed by Win Gatchalian (P157,077,338.62), Ralph Recto (P131,867,403.89), Panfilo Lacson (P87,935,535.91), Migz Zubiri (P86,415,261.55), Leila de Lima (P86,153,300.49), Manny Pacquiao (P66,428,468.88) and Tito Sotto (P34,781,663.44).
Under the law, all candidates and political parties must file their full, true, and itemized SOCE within 30 days after Election Day.
