Nancy, 4 others earn from poll donations

Campaign spending reports for almost half of the senatorial candidates are out, and they reveal five senatorial bets who even earned from the otherwise costly exercise.
The one-page summaries of the candidates’ Statement of Contributions and Expenses (SOCEs) show that two candidates from the opposition United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), two from Team PNoy, and an independent got more donations than they were able to spend.
Out of the 33 senatorial candidates, 32 claim to have submitted their SOCEs to the Commission on Elections, but only 29 are with the poll body (3 said they sent their reports through registered mail). The Comelec, however, made available to reporters the summary reports of only 15 candidates on Friday, June 14.
Of these 15 bets, the biggest earner is UNA’s Nancy Binay, a political neophyte and daughter of the Vice President. She saved a little over than P8 million from her campaign kitty, while finishing 5th in the winning circle with 16.81 million votes.
Binay received campaign contributions totalling P136.87 million, but spent only P128.7 million.
Campaign savings
Reporting the next highest campaign savings is independent candidate Ramon Montaño. The retired police general, who garnered only 1 million votes, received P6.63 million in contributions, but spent only P1.38 million, declaring P5.25 million in unused funds.
Also holding an extra P1.17 million from the campaign is Team PNoy’s Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV. The presidential cousin, the only Liberal Party bet who won, reported getting P125.5 million in donations and spending only P124.33 million.
A revenue regulation issued by Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on June 14, 2011, classifies unused campaign contributions as the candidate’s income and therefore subject to tax.
Section 2 of Revenue Regulation No. 7-2011 states: “Unutilized/excess campaign funds, that is, campaign contributions net of the candidate’s campaign expenditures, shall be considered as subject to income tax, and as such, must be included in the candidate’s taxable income as stated in his/her Income Tax Return (ITR) filed for the subject taxable year.” [Rappler.com and PNA]
Should candidates fail to file their campaign spending reports, the BIR will consider them not having spent anything, and will therefore consider “the entire amount of such campaign contributions” as their personal taxable incomes.
Jack and Grace, too
Two other candidates – one losing, one winning – reported campaign savings, but only less than half a million pesos each.
Juan Ponce “Jack” Enrile Jr of UNA, who failed to make it to the Top 12, saved almost P400,000. He received P150.8 million in contributions and spent P150.4 million. Enrile was the candidate who received the most contributions, going by SOCE reports that were submitted to the Comelec.
Grace Poe-Llamanzares of Team PNoy saved almost P160,000, after receiving P123.61 million in donations and spending P123.45 million.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Sixto Brillantes said winning and losing senatorial candidates who were able to save money from their campaign kitties have the option to return them to their donors or keep them.
“They can keep the money but that is subjected (sic) to tax. If they don’t return to the donor, considered income nila yun. They can return and then wala silang problema. If they keep it, then that has to be reported as income,” he explained. [Rappler.com and PNA]