MANILA - Defeated vice-presidential bet Alan Peter Cayetano contributed P71.3 million in tandem ads to the 2016 campaign of Rodrigo Duterte, which is three times higher than his P23.6 million declared net worth in 2015.

A Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism report revealed Monday Duterte’s top donor, Davao del Norte Rep. Antonio ‘Tony Boy’ R. Floirendo Jr., contributed P75 million in cash to Duterte and another P25 million to the President’s party, PDP-Laban.

The report said Cayetano was the second highest donor to the Duterte campaign at P71.3 million.

However, Cayetano only declared a net worth of P23.6 million in his 2015 Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) obtained by ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group.

According to the SALN, Cayetano had total assets of P28,596,574 and total liabilities (composed of parental loans and housing loans) of P5,032,034.

In an interview, Cayetano explained the money he gave to Duterte was pooled by donors.



"Iyung idinonate sa akin, ginamit ko for commercials na tulungan ng Pangulo because at one point in time in the campaign, I realized there's a big chance I won't win but I wanted my President to win," he said.

"Hindi ko naman pwedeng i-donate cash sa kanya iyun dahil donated lang din sa akin iyun. But I can pay for the commercials that will benefit the two of us."

(I used the money donated to me to pay for joint commercials ads with the President because at one point in time in the campaign, I realized there's a big chance I won't win but I wanted my President to win.)

(I cannot give it to him in cash because it was just donated to me in the first place. But I can pay for the commercials that will benefit the two of us.)

Cayetano, however, failed to identify his donors.

He also questioned the timing of the release of the PCIJ report.

"The way it was reported did not really explain the real issues and politically targeted some people while it was silent on some people," he said.

Of the P375 million donation for Duterte's poll campaign, the President only used P371 million, leaving him with an excess fund of some P3.5 million, which as early as May was reported to have been returned to donors.

Under Philippine tax regulations, unused campaign funds are considered personal income and should be reported to the Bureau of Internal Revenue but any returned funds need not be reported.