Admitting that the current political campaign is by far the most expensive political campaign in the country’s history, two senatorial candidates – former Senate President Franklin M. Drilon and former Justice secretary Silvestre Bello complained that the moneyed candidates have the edge over their ‘’poor’’ rivals in the senatorial race as they spend hundreds of millions in infomercials.

As a result, Drilon said, the first thing that he would do should he win in the May 10 national elections is to review and recast election spending laws because current interpretation of the Supreme Court is that informercials produced and shown before the filing of certificates of candidacy are not yet considered election expenditures.

He cited the case of former Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. official presidential bet of the Nacionalista Party (NP), who has ran infomercials in 2009, costing P1 billion in TV alone ‘’but is not considered part of election campaign purposes.’’

Drilon explained that his bill would subject to prosecution for violation of anti-graft laws government officials who would have their faces in the jnfomercials the moment they file their certificates of candidacy (COCs) and used government funds for these infomercials for the purpose of campaigning.