The truth about election spending

by Psyche Roxas Mendoza, BusinessMirror – April 17, 2016, http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/the-truth-about-election-spending/

First of three parts

LEAN, dark, of average height and with an easy smile, the not-yet-40, close-in security of a government official chose to have the interview at a restaurant close to his place of work.

He used to be a militant activist-community organizer. He is used to not giving his real name, the same way that he was going to use “Nick” as his nom de guerre in this special report on election spending.

“Maselan ang pag-uusapan natin. Mabuti na ang ganito [We will talk about delicate matters. It’s better this way],” he smiled.

Nick began by saying there are many like him—once activists who left the movement to look for a paying job.

“Ang hirap ng panahon, ang hirap kumilos. Kailangang tulungan ang pamilya. At dahil organizing ang alam ko, dito ako napunta sa local politics [Times are hard, making it difficult to stay an activist. My family needs me. And because organizing is what I know best, I found myself working in
local politics].”

Nick became active in local politics from 2004 to 2012. His first time out was as an organizing staff of a provincial congressman and later, a provincial mayor. Years later, he became part of a team of “operators” in one of the cities of Metro Manila.

Nick explained there were two kinds of election expenses. One was above-the-line, which covered advertisements aired on television and radio or printed in the various newspapers, tabloid and magazines. This kind of expense was openly declared.

The other kind pertained to below-the-line activities, the kind that led to the “strengthening of the party machinery” of an incumbent or opposition party.

Costly, yet dirt cheap

NICK said machinery-building doesn’t come cheap.

“Magastos at mas ma-detalye ang gastusan sa komunidad para malatag mo ng matatag ang makinarya ng kandidato o partido mula barangay hanggang munisipyo o siyudad. Maraming tao ang kailangan [Strengthening the election machinery from the barangay level to the municipality or city level can be costly and requires nitty-gritty expenses].”

The pay per person at the barangay level is also dirt cheap.

While television outfits can command almost a million pesos for a prime-time 30-second ad placement, many of the men and women at the bottom-rung of the election spending ladder earn below-minimum wage rates per day.

In one city, young men whose job is to post campaign stickers, posters and tarpaulins are paid an average of P200 a day to P300 a day for their efforts, when the minimum wage is already at P481 per day.

As late as 2007, Nick said the basic salary of an operations head was only P10,000 to P15,000, with free food, cell-phone load, gas allowance (if you had a motorcycle) and daily allowance (which can range from P500 to P1,000).

“May add-ons naman yan pag may miting-de-avance: kailangan [kasi] ng dyip, pagkain [There are additional expenses if there are town or barangay meetings, things like food and use of a jeepney, all the works].”

The total take home pay of an operations head, including add-ons, can reach P15,000 a month on average. “If the candidate is generous, the head of operations can earn P30,000 a month—all in,” Nick said.

The staff of the operations head receive P3,000 to P5,000 plus meal allowance, transportation allowance and cell-phone load a month. Whatever he saves from his allowances, he can add to his earnings so that we can take home, at the most, P10,000 a month.

Operations expenses

“LAHAT ng gastos sa operations ang may hawak operations,” Nick said. “Pero per activity basis ang baba ng pondo. [Money for operations expenses is released on a per- activity basis].”

The operations plan is run by phases: campaign, election proper, counting of votes and after the counting of votes, according to him.

He added that they are given money as the need requires it.

“I am in charge of election materials. Sa akin ang ‘Operation Dikit [OD].’ Kinuha namin ’yung tawag doon sa OD noon nga aktibista pa kami [I oversee the preparation of materials to be posted on walls (OD). We took the name of this task from the OD we used to do when we were still activists.”

Nick said he gives a costing of an OD activity and shows it to the operations head. Thereafter, he is given his budget and they proceed. He says his budget per OD activity is small.

“Walang masyadong cash kasi food is supplied and transportation is provided. Ang magastos lang ay ’yung liquid sosa na hinahalo sa gawgaw na ginagawang pandikit sa OD. [Not much cash is spent. Our budget is used up by liquid sosa. We mix it with starch for a stickier paste.]” Nick said they wear gloves “so your hands don’t get scorched.”

He added that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has banned paper stickers using home-made paste. “But we do our operations at night when no one can see and catch us. In the morning, who is going to say the paper posters came from us. Mahirap ’yan mahuli ng batas o ng Comelec [It’s hard to apply the law or Comelec bans to this activity].”

In house

If your candidate is an incumbent, then you derive your income from the local government. You are employed by the elected official you work for, Nick said, adding that he sees nothing wrong with that because they are qualified and really do work. The gray area happens once election starts.

Nick explained that the city or municipal political structure functions in in a way that promotes public service. There are different departments serving different sectors—youth, senior citizens, disabled lesbian gay, bisexual, transgender, traditional organizations, etc.

We in operations divide ourselves and sit in these formations for the purpose of constituency-building, according to him.

“Trabaho po namin ’yan—constituency building—sa incumbent. Pag paparating na ang eleksyon, nako-convert po ’yan, nagiging machinery siya. Halimbawa, pag tumakbo na ’yung kandidato ng partido, kami ’yung magiging mass-OD team. Kami din ’yung papasok sa bahay-bahay para tumukoy ng mga taong maaasahan sa eleksyon, [Constituency-building is our job. Once elections draw near, this set-up becomes the machinery of the incumbent. If you are with the opposition, you do the same but, of course, it is more difficult because you lack the resources the incumbent has.]” To be continued