‘GMA’s expenses way below limit’

President Arroyo spent a whopping P333 million in a span of three months to finance her high-profile election campaign, but the amount was well below the limit set by law.

Mrs. Arroyo, represented by her election lawyer, former Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner Manolo Gorospe, filed the report at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, a day before the deadline set by the poll body.

The President’s top individual donor was Pancho Villaraza, one of the partners of the law firm closely associated with her family, who gave P30 million.

The President reported total expenses of P333.36 million, P326.48 million of which she raised in campaign contributions.

Her biggest expenses were for radio and television advertisements, totalling P140 million, and P86 million for poll watchers on election day.

Opposition front-runner Fernando Poe Jr. on the other hand reported campaign expenses of only P92.1 million, P83.9 million of which were from individual contributors and the balance from the Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino, of which he was the standard-bearer.

Poe’s report, submitted before 7 p.m. yesterday, listed his family as his biggest contributor with P30 million.

On the other hand, presidential also-ran Raul Roco spent only P68 million, as per his report also submitted last night.

Matching Villaraza’s donation to the campaign kitty of Mrs. Arroyo was a P30-million loan purportedly taken from Metrobank by Antonio Vilar, treasurer of the administration coalition.

Other top contributors were Catalino Tan, Jose Perez, Jose Antonio who all donated P20 million each; Vilar, apparently in his personal capacity, Alfredo Ramos, Francisco Dizon, Pedro Tan, Raymond Manzo, Alejandro Clemente, Philip dela Serna Tuason and Aloysius Santos, contributed P10 million each.

A total of 48 names were on the three-page list of the President’s declaration of campaign contributors, including Grand C graphics with P5 million worth of campaign materials and Rufino Group of Companies with P5 million worth of sample ballots. A little over P1 million was listed as "various donations."

Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye announced in his press briefing at the Palace that Mrs. Arroyo’s campaign expenses were below the limit set by the country’s election laws.

"My understanding is that it’s well below the limit allowed by law. The limit allowed by law for such position, I believe, is in the neighborhood of P420 million. The President’s expenditures were below that limit," Bunye told Palace reporters.

Bunye revealed that a three-man committee from the President’s Koalisyon ng Katapatan at Karanasan sa Kinabukasan (K-4) prepared the pro-forma report containing the list of contributors and itemized expenses.

"They scrutinized the expenses not only of the President but also of the K-4 in the Lakas-CMD and they were the ones who prepared the statement of contributions and expenditures," Bunye said.

Pressed if the identities of Mrs. Arroyo’s private campaign contributors and donors were declared, Bunye replied: "I suppose the minimum requirements for reporting have been complied with."

Bunye shrugged off claims by losing senatorial candidate, former solicitor general Frank Chavez, that Mrs. Arroyo spent as much as P1 billion to P2 billion in private campaign contributions on top of government funds.

"That’s according to Frank Chavez. But according to the committee, which is official, this is what they submitted to the Comelec," Bunye said.

Presidential campaign spokesman Michael Defensor told The STAR yesterday that there was no attempt to under-declare the donations and campaign expenses of Mrs. Arroyo.

"We kept it (expenses) at a low and that is how we conducted our campaign," Defensor said, stressing that they are actually expecting the political opposition to raise these campaign fund issues now that the President has complied with this election campaign requirement.

Defensor said the campaign donations and expenses report of Mrs. Arroyo would disprove persistent accusations by her political opponents that government funds were used during the campaign.

"Definitely, there was none (government funds). We have been saying this since day one of the campaign but which they (opposition) keep on accusing us without proof or basis," Defensor said.

"They can check these because these are public records and they are open to the public for scrutiny," Defensor pointed out.

For his part, K-4 campaign manager Presidential Legislative Liaison Office Secretary Gabriel Claudio told The STAR yesterday that no less than the campaign staff of the K-4, as well as the national and local candidates who ran with Mrs. Arroyo, could attest to the "very conservative" campaign they conducted to comply with election laws.

"We complied as best as we can within the limits provided for by law and even the stalwarts and candidates and campaigners will attest to the modest, if not Spartan way, by which we carried out the campaign," Claudio said.