TACLOBAN CITY- Senatorial aspirant and Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos ‘pleaded’ with the media entities not to demand what she called ‘outrageous’ advertisement ads.
According to Marcos, who was in the city on Friday(April 12) to woo Waray voters, said that almost 80 percent of candidates campaign funds goes to political advertisements.
And this high cost to place a political ads in the media placed at the disadvantage candidates like her who does not have much to shell out.
“Otsenta porsenyento ang gastos namin nasa inyo, media. Bakit kayo naniningil ng ganyan?Dapat shared public affairs;dapat may information,” she said during a media interview.
She asked the media not to get mad at her with her statement on this issue saying its really ‘true’.
“Mas mayaman ka, kahit papano, nakakagbayad ka,” she said.
It was learned that for a candidate to have a television ad, for example, he or she has to shell out P800,000 per 30 seconds if shown in prime time while a 15-seconder ad will cost P500,000.
Based on the study of Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), Marcos has spent P413 million covering the period of January, 2018 to January, 2019.
Former presidential aide, Christopher ‘Bong’ Go was said to have topped the list at P422 million expenditure.
Both Marcos and Go belong to the administration-backed Hugpong ng Pagbabago(HnP).
While Marcos appear to lament on the high cost of media advertisement, she admitted that media exposure remain to be a factor for a candidate, especially those seeking national positions like her.
She said that a 90-day campaign period is not enough to cover the entire Philippines and get the voters nod.
“It’s all about media exposure. Hindi mo maiikot ang buong Pilipinas,” she said.
She added that while she uses the social media as another campaign tool which she said is considerably cheaper compare to the main stream media, ‘even a fan page is being tear down,” she said.
Marcos could be alluding to the case of presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, HnP campaign manager, whose Facebook account was shut down.
The senatorial aspirant then hope for an electoral reform should be done on campaign spending like having the government share the election expenses of candidates, especially the less financial privileged.
Asked how much is her war chest on her senatorial bid, Marcos decline to say though she cited the case of her brother, former senator Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos when he ran for vice president in 2016.
A PCIJ report has indicated that Bongbong spent P42.8 million television ads on that year.
Outgoing senator Francis Escudero spent the highest at P236 million followed by eventual winner Leni Robredo who spent P225 million.
Meantime, the Ilocos Norte governor said that she hopes that she could get the majority votes of Eastern Visayas, the country’s eight vote-rich region with over 3 million registered voters.
On Friday (April 12), she barnstormed the cities of Ormoc in Leyte; Naval town in Biliran; Catbalogan City in Samar and in Tacloban, the region’s capital city with more than 100,000 registered voters. (JOEY A. GABIETA)

TACLOBAN CITY- The tourism sector in Eastern Samar is not picking up compare to other provinces in the region.
In fact, the tourism arrivals and its receipts of the province is at the bottom, a depressing situation considering that Eastern Samar possesses natural wonders whose beauties are comparable to other major draws in the country like the Boracay and Siargao, Surigao del Sur, Mayor Mark Biong of Giporlos town, said.
Biong said that if he gets elected as a board member of the province, he want to get the chairmanship of the committee on tourism so he could help promote the tourism industry of the province.
‘We have so much to offer to tourists and yet Eastern Samar’s share on tourist arrivals and receipts only account five percent of the entire region,” Biong said.
“It’s high time to have a share equal to what we have in the province. Our islands are so pristine and clean. We have destinations comparable to popular sites in the Philippines,” he added.
In 2017, for example he said, tourist receipts of the province only reached P684 million sourced from the expenses incurred by the more than 179,000 tourists who visited the different tourist spots of the province.
And this figure slipped further to 4.4 percent by 2018, Biong added.
The outgoing mayor of Giporlos said that if he becomes a board member, he would craft legislative measures that would help enhance and promote the tourism sector of the province.
“I plan to have a massive marketing strategy (to help promote our tourism industry),” he said.
Among the tourism destinations that Biong mentioned that could help attract tourists in the province are Calicoan Island in Guiuan town, Yolanda Beach in Salcedo, Amandaraga Falls in Lawaan, Dangkalan Pacific Beach in Taft, nature parks in Hernani and Balangkayan towns, and the historic Balangiga Bells.
Biong said that what he envisions is for the tourism sector in the province be sustainable and pro-people.
Admitting on the shortcomings on accommodations, Biong said that he would encourage investors to build hotels and lodging inns.
He also said that tourists in the province can be assured of their safety saying that Eastern Samar is peaceful, contrary to public perceptions.
(LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA, JOEY A. GABIETA)

ORMOC CITY- Spending money from his own pocket, a former mayor here in Leyte spent millions of pesos just to fulfill his childhood dream to build a shrine intended for Catholic devotees.
Businessman Panfilo Go, 60,a long-time mayor of Hilongos town, said that his plan to construct a shrine started when he had a dream when he was just in Grade 5.
He said that an old lady appeared on his dream asking him to build a shrine where Catholic devotees could pray.
In 1978, he was able to convince a lot owner to sell his property to him located in Barangay Lunang where he built a small chapel.
April of 2017, Go, who had developed a devotion to Agnus Dei, constructed a shrine with the help of a Good Samaritan.
The shrine could accommodate about 1,000 people.
On March 30 of this year, the Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines Most Reverend Gabrielle Giordano Caccia celebrated a Holy Mass at the shrine attended by 3,000 devotees and 20 priests from the Diocese of Maasin.
Inside the 6,000 square meters compound where the modern church was built, a two-story convent was also constructed with the papal nuncio leading its inauguration.
A huge gymnasium was also built with the public can use for free, Go said.
Fr. Chris Estreber, the church priest said, its feast is celebrated every 10th of October and churchgoers from various places come to celebrate.
Belonging to a fanatic religious family, Go said he does count on the money he will be spending for the church and in helping others who are in need.
“Political life is over for me. Three terms as mayor and one (term) as vice mayor are already enough. I have done what the Lord prepared for me in politics and this is my way of extending help to people”, he said. (ELVIE ROMAN ROA)