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Friday, March 29, 2024

Manicad thanks supporters for ‘low-budget’ run

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Despite the millions of pesos being spent by his competitors running for a seat in the Senate, broadcast journalist Jiggy Manicad—who is seeking an elective position for the first time—is confident that he still has an edge over them owing to the “excessive contributions” in kind of his supporters embarking on a “bayanihan” (communal spirit) campaign.

“We call it the ‘bubong billboard’ (billboards on roofs or walls). We have no funds to put up large billboards on private property like the other candidates, but we are surprised that in some houses that we pass by, my name and number on the ballot has been painted on,” the veteran journalist said ahead of the May 13 polls.

“We have also been receiving photos of supporters printing their own shirts, ballers (rubber bands), and even using pentel pens to make their own posters. Some download their designs from Facebook,” Manicad shared.

With limited funds mostly coming from his personal income as a media personality and businessman, the neophyte candidate attributed the groundswell of support to his campaign to supporters who are resorting to “bayanihan” through grassroots, community-led efforts, to push him to the Magic 12.

On Facebook, the “bayanihan” campaign is led by the “Jiggy Manicad Movement” with more than 40,000 members. Volunteers have established core groups through almost all regions and are printing campaign materials with money from their own pockets, the candidate said.

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Posts by members of the campaign express admiration for Manicad’s commitment to a platform of governance based on honesty, transparency, and integrity.

Since announcing his decision to run last year, Manicad shared that he consciously decided to keep his expenses small to “exert full control over his actions and commitments to the people” if elected into the Senate.

“My campaign manager is my wife. My biggest contributors to my campaign are my friends and family. This is really the way we kept this campaign to minimize expenses. We do not want our Senate run to be mixed with vested interests in politics or business,” Manicad shared.

Prior to the start of the official campaign period, Manicad estimates that he spent just P2 million in pre-campaign expenses.

In comparison, the ten highest spenders have expended an average of P205 million in a tally of the estimated advertisement spending by Senatorial candidates before the election period by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ). 

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