Pols circumvent 120-minute political ad limit

THE CMFR MONITOR OF MEDIA COVERAGE OF THE 2010 ELECTIONS
POLITICAL ADS IN BROADCASTING AND PRINT
(For the Period March 14 – 27)

Less than two months after the official campaign period for national elections started, AGB Nielsen, in partnership with the non-governmental organization Pera’t Pulitika, released a study that revealed that two presidential candidates exceeded the prescribed total airtime limit for advertisements per TV station.

As of Mar. 24, Nacionalista Party’s (NP) Manuel “Manny” Villar had aired a total of 128.25 minutes of political advertisements over GMA-7 and 129 minutes over ABS-CBN. The Liberal Party’s (LP) Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino Jr. had aired 118 minutes of political advertisements over GMA-7 and 129 minutes over ABS-CBN as of the same date.

Section 6 of the Fair Elections Act states that candidates must not have more than 120 minutes of airtime for television advertisements and 180 minutes for radio advertisements. The media did continuously report on this provision and had been monitoring the candidates’ advertisements, but the Comelec interpretation of the 120 minute airtime provision on television allowed moneyed candidates to air ads beyond that limit.

There were ample clues that the so-called limit would be practically meaningless. The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility’s (CMFR) monitoring for the second period (Feb. 28 – Mar. 13) noted Akap-Bata party-list’s use of Villar’s campaign jingle in its television advertisements. First nominee Dr. Joy Alcantara denied that her organizatio had received funding from Villar, and said that it had merely   asked the candidate for permission to use his jingle to boost Akap’s own campaign. The Social Weather Stations April 16-19 Pre-election survey however, revealed that Akap-Bata did not even make it to the top 50 party-list groups the public will most likely vote.

CMFR observed a considerable increase in the number of political advertisements in its third monitoring period, most especially by the political parties. With the airtime limit fast approaching for individual candidates, it seemed that some of them had found a loophole in the rule.

Commission on Election Spokesperson James Jimenez pointed out the importance of the “Paid for” clause in any political advertisement as it was one of the Comelec’s basis on whose airtime the advertisement will be counted.  The public can therefore see a candidate’s face in an advertisement but the ad will not be counted as his airtime so long as the ad is paid for by someone else.

For the third period, CMFR monitored television advertisements aired during the primetime block of television networks ABS-CBN 2, GMA-7 and NBN-4 from Mar. 15 to 26, excluding Saturdays and Sundays.

CMFR also monitored advertisements published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, The Philippine Star and the Manila Bulletin from Mar. 14 to Mar. 27.

Political Advertisements on Television

Table 1. Total Number of Political Advertisements on Television

For the third period, the total number of advertisements aired was 651. This figure represents a 27.19 percent increase from the 474 aired during the second period.

The total number of advertisements for presidential candidates slightly increased, to 138 from 128 during the second period.

The same increasing trend is evident in all ad categories. The total number of advertisements for vice-presidential candidates increased to 164 from 133, an 18.90 percent increase from the second period. The total number of advertisements for senatorial candidate also increased to 204 from 152, as more candidates started airing advertisements together with their presidential candidate. Other election-related political advertisements increased to 26 from 11 during the second period.

While a party-list group started airing advertisements on television during the second period, this trend did not persist during the third period. Not one advertisement from party-list groups was aired during the period under review.

However, the third period saw a significant increase of advertisements by and for political parties. This period noted a 90.76 percent increase, to 119 from only 11 during the second period.

The number of advertisements aired over the networks monitored increased as a result. The number of advertisements aired on ABS-CBN 2 increased by 28.36 percent to 275 from 197. GMA-7 aired 319 advertisements during the third monitoring period, a 29.15 percent increase from 226 during the second monitor period. The number of advertisements aired on NBN-4 also slightly increased, to 57 from 51.

Parallel to the increase in the number of advertisements was the increase in ad airtime. The total airtime of political advertisements for the third period reached five hours and twenty-three hours with at least an hour, thirty eight minutes and fifty five second difference compared to the total airtime recorded during the second period.

Table 2. Total Airtime of Political Advertisements

While the majority of the advertisements aired on television ran for 30 seconds, the third period recorded a notable increase in the number of 15-second advertisements. Not only were there new 15-second advertisements, certain candidates reduced their 30-second advertisements to 15 seconds to save on their airtime allotments.

However, vice-presidential candidate Loren Legarda aired an advertisement which took up three minutes of airtime.

Frequency per Program

Table 3. Total Advertisements per Program

As in the first two periods monitored, the majority of the advertisements over ABS-CBN 2 and GMA-7 were aired during the commercial gaps of the networks’ news programs. For GMA-7, 44 percent of the total number of advertisements (142 out of 319 ads) was aired during 24 Oras while 26 percent (71 out of 275 ads) was aired during ABS-CBN’s TV Patrol World.

For NBN-4, 70 percent of its total advertisements (40 out of 57 ads) were aired during Philippine Lotto Draw, which it had been doing since the monitoring started.

Political Advertisements in Print

As in the first two monitoring periods, the number of advertisements in print were minimal. However, the third monitoring period saw an increase in the number of advertisements in print, to 43 from 36 during the second period.

This can be attributed to the increase in political advertisements in The Philippine Star which had a total of 21 advertisements, compared to the 13  it  published during the second period.

Table 4. Total Number of Political Advertisements on Print

The number of advertisements for presidential candidates slightly increased to four from two during the second period.

The number of advertisements for vice-presidential candidates decreased to six from 12 during the second period. Most of these advertisements were endorsements.

Party-list group advertisements also increased to 15 from seven during the second period.

In terms of size, majority of the advertisements published (21 advertisements) were smaller than the prescribed ¼ the size of a broadsheet, more often from party-list groups. Special interest groups still published advertisements more than ¼ the size of a broadsheet.

Candidates and Their Political Advertisements

Presidential Candidates

Table 5. Number of Advertisements Aired for Presidential Candidates

As in the second period, Aquino had the most number of advertisements for the third period. Except for one ad, this number does not include those in which he endorsed some of his party’s senatorial candidates, namely Martin Baustista,  Alexander Lacson, and Neric Acosta among others.

The number of Aquino’s advertisements slightly increased, to 60 from 52 during the second period.

Villar had the second most number of advertisements, with 48 aired during the third period. While he had only one kind of advertisement which used his popular jingle “Dagat ng Basura” (“Sea of Garbage”), his total number was a slight decrease from the 50 he aired during the second period. However, aside from ads that endorsed his candidacy, he also had an advertisement with his vice-presidential candidate Loren Legarda and senatorial candidates.

It was only during this third period that Lakas-Kampi CMD’s Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro and Bangon Pilipinas’ Eduardo “Bro. Eddie” Villanueva aired advertisements. Teodoro had 24 advertisements while Villanueva had only five advertisements.

For this period, Bagumbayan-Volunteers for New Philippines’ (B.Bayan-VNP) Richard “Dick” Gordon did not air any advertisements.

In print, both Villar and Aquino had two advertisements each. These advertisements, however, are in the form of endorsements and survey results.

Ang Kapatiran’s John Carlos “JC” delos Reyes, and independent candidates Maria Ana Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal and Nicanor “Nick” Perlas did not have any advertisements in print or television.

Vice-Presidential Candidates Ads

Table 6. Number of Advertisements Aired for Vice-Presidential Candidates

Legarda had the most number of advertisements on television with 60 advertisements, a 46. 67 percent increase from the 32 aired during the second period.

Aside from her advertisement that featured singer Sarah Geronimo, she also had one with Villar.

The LP’s Manuel “Mar” Roxas had a slight increase in the number of advertisements aired, to 49 from 38 during the second period. He had only one advertisement during this period that featured fishermen talking about how Roxas had helped them.

B.Bayan-VNP’s Bayani Fernando’s advertisement decreased in number, to 31 from 44 during the second period. This was partly because he started airing 30-second advertisement in the middle of the third period instead of having two 15-second advertisements.

Jejomar Binay’s advertisements increased to 23, from 16 during the second period. This number was aside from the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) advertisements aired during this period.

Other vice-presidential candidates such as Ang Kapatiran’s Dominador “Jun” Chipeco Jr., Lakas-Kampi CMD’s Eduardo “Edu” Manzano, Kilusang Bagong Lipunan’s (KBL) Jose “Jay Sonza” Sonza and BP’s Perfecto “Kidlat” Yasay did not air any advertisement. However, both Manzano and Yasay were featured in  the last few seconds of their presidential candidates’ ads.

In print, only Binay and Roxas had advertisements. Binay was endorsed in four advertisements by Partido Demokratiko Pilipino Lakas  ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) while Roxas was endorsed in two advertisements, one by the Magdalo group and, with Aquino, by  the Lambda Rho Beta Fraternity.

Senatorial Candidates

Table 7. Number of Advertisements Aired for Senatorial Candidates

Among the senatorial candidates, PMP’s Juan Ponce Enrile had the most number of advertisements but this number had decreased to 38 from 46.

The LP’s Ralph Recto had the second most number of advertisements among senatorial candidates, with 26 from 5 during the second period.

The NP’s Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. aired the third most advertisements for this period, with 25 advertisements. This number was a slight decrease from the 30 advertisements he aired during the second period.

Unlike the second period which had advertisements for only 13 senatorial candidates, the third period marked the entry of new advertisements for senatorial candidates,the  majority of which showed them being endorsed by their presidential candidates. These included advertisements with Aquino endorsing Ruffy Biazon, former senator Frank Drilon, Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel, TG Guingona,  Baustista, Lacson and Sonia Roco. On the other hand, Villar also appeared in an Ariel Querubin advertisement.

There were also advertisements aired for candidates who last aired theirs during the first period. These included advertisements for Joey De Venecia, Gilbert Remulla, and Gwendolyn Pimentel.

A total of 22 senatorial candidates aired advertisements during the third period.

While 15 senatorial candidates had advertisements in print, only Silvestre Bello III and Joey De Venecia published their own advertisements. Bello had two advertisements while De Venecia had three, one of which was also an endorsement.

Others senatorial candidates were only endorsed by groups. Gwen Pimentel was endorsed alongside Binay in four advertisements by PDP-Laban while J.V Baustista, Biazon, Pilar Juliana “Pia” Cayetano, Jinggoy Estrada, Gen. Danny Lim, Marcos, Toots Ople, Querubin, Remulla, Tito Sotto and Adel Tamano were endorsed alongside Villar and Roxas by the Magdalo group.

Political Parties

Table 8. Number of Advertisements for Political Parties

Two political parties– the Nacionalista Party and the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino– aired advertisements during the third period.  PMP first aired the party’s advertisement during the second period. The number of PMP advertisements on primetime increased to 33 from 11.

For this period, the NP aired two kinds of advertisements. One advertisement focused on the party’s stand as an opposition group to the current administration and featured Marcos Jr., Saturnino “Satur” Ocampo, Ramon Mitra, Col. Querubin, Gilbert Remulla, Adel Tamano, Pimentel and Villar. This advertisement was released a few days after allegations of a secret alliance between Villar and Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The NP’s second advertisement highlighted the inclusion of women in the party slate which meant recognition of the importance of women’s participation in the government.  This featured Pimentel, Cayetano, Susan Ople, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Liza Maza, Legarda and standard bearer Villar. In total,  the NP aired 86 advertisements.

The advertisements for presidential candidates were disguised as party ads, obviously to go around the 120-minute airtime limit. . Estrada no longer aired his own advertisements for this period while Villar decreased the number of his “stand alone” advertisements.

Party-list Groups

While there were no advertisements aired on television by a party-list group, some published ads in print.

Only two groups published advertisements in print. Alay Buhay Community Development Foundation, Inc. (Alay Buhay) had nine advertisements with the Catholic Charismatic group El Shaddai Movement leader,  while Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta (PBA) had six advertisements with boxer Manny Pacquiao, its chair, as endorser.

Other Election-Related Advertisements

Table 9. Number of Advertisements Aired on Elections in General on Television

The number of other election-related advertisements on television also increased during the third period, to 26 from 19 during the second period. This was largely due to the Comelec’s infomercial explaining the voting process on May 10. This infomercial comprised 42.3 percent of other election-related advertisements aired on primetime for the period.

The number of NBN-4’s Hatol ng Bayan infomercials decreased significantly, to 1 from 7 during the second period with Comelec’s infomercial consistently being aired twice everyday on the government channel from Mar. 22 to 26.

GMA-7’s Bilog na Hugis Itlog (Egg-shaped circle) was aired most often during the third period.

Table 10. Number of Advertisements on Elections in General on Print

The number of advertisements on elections in general slightly increased, to 16 from 13 during the second period. Three advertisements referred to media-initiated voter education programs while five came from election watch groups. Both NAMFREL and PPCRV advertised for volunteers for the coming elections. Three groups published four advisories and calls related to the coming election.

The People’s Movement Against Poverty published an advertisement questioning Roxas’ support for the Expanded- Value Added Tax (E-VAT) and alleging that he watered down the Cheaper Medicines Act. This was the first advertisement that actually confronted a candidate since the campaign period started.

Candidate’s Exposure

The following tables compare the candidates’ actual advertisements, including those with the political parties, and the airtime that will be counted for that candidate.

Table 11. Number of Presidential Candidates’ Actual Advertisements

While Villar only had 48 advertisements that will be counted for him, he appeared in an additional 111 advertisements, which included all of the Nacionalista Party’s and Ariel Querubin’s advertisements. In total, Villar had 159 advertisements.

On the other hand, aside from the 42 advertisements that will be counted for him, Aquino appeared in another 33 advertisements, including endorsements for some of his senatorial candidates. In total, he had 75 advertisements.

While Teodoro had 24 advertisements, these will not be counted as his expended airtime as the advertisements were supposedly paid for his political party Lakas-Kampi CMD. Villanueva nhe had 5 advertisements but only two will be credited to his 120 minute airtime limit.

Table 12. Number of Vice-Presidential Candidates’ Actual Advertisements

Out of the four vice-presidential candidates, only Legarda had discrepancies between the total number of advertisements she was in and the number of advertisements that will be credited to her. The 8 advertisements that featured her using Villar’s jingle will be credited to the Nationalist People’s Coalition.

The following table shows the senatorial candidates who will be credited some airtime but whose advertisements they paid for did not advertise them. Note that these candidates were running under either the Nacionalista Party or Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino. Political party advertisements are supposedly paid for by senatorial candidates and will therefore be credited to them.

Table 13. Senatorial Candidates with Airtime but without Advertisements Aired

Evidently the 120 minute limit had become virtually meaningless, with many candidates finding ways around it, by, for example, appearing in ads paid for by their party, with their party mates.  Among other reasons, the Comelec tended to be very liberal in its interpretation of this provision of the Fair Election Act.

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