Party-list polls: Big ad
spenders win big, lose big

The party-list system was conceptualized as a way of giving the marginalized a voice in Congress. Yet in the three-month campaign period, the public has seen party-list groups splurging tens of millions of pesos in television advertisements just to bag a seat in Congress.

In our latest offering, PCIJ research head Karol Anne Ilagan analyzes the spending of party-list groups and asks the question: If party-list groups can spend millions of pesos in television ads, were they really marginalized in the first place?

In the accompanying sidebar, Ms. Ilagan looks at how some party-list groups failed to bag any seat in Congress despite massive ad spending.