13th placer Tolentino tops in campaign spending among Senate bets

Former Metropolitan Manila Development (MMDA) chief Francis Tolentino spent the most for the election campaign among senatorial candidates but narrowly missed the winning circle in the 2016 elections.

In his statement of contributions and expenditures (SOCE), Tolentino—who ranked 13th in the race—declared a total of P199,146,623.72 in expenditures.

This includes P67.1 million from "personal funds or resources" and P131.98 million from contributors.

Senator-elect Joel Villanueva was the second top spender with P163,787,074.02. He received P159.9 million from contributors and shelled out P3.8 million from his personal funds.

Another senator-elect, Sherwin Gatchalian, ranked third in spendings with a total of P157,077,338.63, most of which came from cash contributions.

Reelectionist Ralph Recto, meanwhile, reported P131,867,403.89 in expenditures, with P111.6 from contributions and P20.2 million from personal funds and resources.

Another losing candidate, outgoing Manila Vice Mayor Isko Moreno, came in at fifth place with expenses amounting to P120,197,670.90, all sourced from cash contributions.

The rest of the ten biggest spenders are as follows:

• Senator-elect Richard Gordon - P119,420,789.92;
• Senator-elect Francis Pangilinan - P106,788,173.62;
• Senator-elect Risa Hontiveros - P99,897,714.87;
• outgoing Senator TG Guingona - P92,305,966.82; and
• Senator-elect Panfilo Lacson - P87,935,535.91.

As of cut-off time, a total of 34 senatorial candidates filed their SOCEs at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) main office in Manila.

Curiously,  Senate President Frank Drilon, topnotcher in the May race, was not among them. —NB, GMA News