Villar's ads exceed combined airtime of 5 rivals

MANILA, Philippines--The advertisements of Nacionalista Party (NP) standard bearer Manuel Villar Jr. were aired for a total of 8,730 minutes (6 days) in a span of 3 months before the start of the official campaign period, exceeding the combined airtime of 5 other leading presidential candidates during the same period.

This was according to data of AGB Nielsen Media Research which were presented on Thursday by Pera at Pulitika (PaP), a consortium seeking to monitor election campaign financing.

Television and radio ads of the 6 top presidential candidates were aired for a total of 15,479 minutes from Nov. 1, 2009, to Feb. 8, 2010. The official campaign period started on February 9.

If played continuously, all these ads will take nearly 11 days to watch and listen to.

Senator Benigno Aquino III, former president Joseph Estrada, former defense secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., Senator Richard Gordon, and evangelist Eddie Villanueva had a combined airtime of 6,747 minutes or over 4 days.

Lawyer Roberto Cadiz, PaP consortium chairman and Libertas executive director, said the May 2010 polls is proving to be the most expensive elections. Citing historical data, Cadiz said they are expecting most of the candidates to spend 95% of their campaign kitty on media.

Total television and radio airtime (in minutes) from Nov. 1, 2009 to Feb. 8, 2010
Candidate	Television airtime	Radio airtime
Senator Benigno Aquino III	536.8	965.5
Former President Joseph Estrada	152.0	141.0
Senator Richard Gordon	776.0	622.5
Former Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro	871.0	2,111.0
Brother Eduardo Villanueva	513.3	60.0
Senator Manuel Villar	2054	6676.5
Total of all candidates	4,903	10,576.5
Source: Pera't Pulitika, AGB Nielsen media research group

Ad spending

Based on published rate cards, Villar’s ads cost a total of P1.2 billion in 3 months. It’s almost equal to the combined spending of P1.3 billion by 5 other leading presidential candidates.

Republic Act 9006 or the Fair Elections Act mandates media organizations to give candidates various discount—30% for television, 20% for radio, and 10% for print.

Villar has earlier claimed that he got a 66% discount because he bought the media spots very early.

Ad spending from Nov. 1, 2009 to Feb 8, 2010
Candidate	Ad spending
Senator Benigno Aquino III	P357.58 million
Former President Joseph Estrada	P92.7 million
Senator Richard Gordon	P245.9 million
Former Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro	P472.8 million
Brother Eduardo Villanueva	P103 million
Senator Manuel Villar	P1.2 billion
Total of all candidates	P2.5 billion
Source: Pera't Pulitika, AGB Nielsen media research group

Source: ABS-CBN News