Tonyboy’s P100 million tops list of Noynoy contributions

MANILA, Philippines – The biggest campaign contributor of president-elect Benigno Aquino III turned out to be his maternal uncle, former communications and television mogul Antonio “Tonyboy” Cojuangco.

The Statement of Contributions and Expenditures submitted by Aquino to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) showed Cojuangco, former president and chief executive officer of ABC-5/TV-5, donated a whooping P100 million to the campaign kitty of his nephew.

Aquino claimed to have received a total of P440,050,000 in contributions but only spent P403,119,981.81 during the campaign.

Aquino also listed 96 contributors who gave donations ranging from P50,000 to P100 million.

Apart from Cojuangco, among the biggest financial supporters of Aquino were Chiong Bu Hong, Pancake House Group president Martin Ignacio Lorenzo and former Environment Secretary Fulgencio Factoran, who donated P20 million each.

Aquino’s sisters Kris Aquino-Yap contributed P15 million, Aurora “Pinky” Abellada donated P5 million and Ma. Elena “Balsy” Cruz gave P3 million.

The statement also revealed a certain Leonardo Javier Jr. donated P14 million to Aquino.

Among those who donated P10 million were former Trade and Industry Secretary Cesar Purisima, Jose Ramon Aliling, Alex Tanwangco, Jose Mari Gamboa, David Lim, Elena Lim, Abeto Uy, Felix Ang, Felipe Diego, Felix Chung, Jose Antonio Larrauri and Gerardo Esquivel.

Aquino submitted the statement of contributions following the election law that all winning and losing candidates should file their statements of campaign contributions and expenditures with the Comelec.

The law limits the spending of presidential bets to only P10 per voter. But since there are some 50.8 million voters for the May 10 polls, presidential candidates could spend up to P508 million during the campaign. –Sheila Crisostomo (The Philippine Star)