Lakas-CMD, Harry Roque among Sara Duterte’s top donors

A former lawmaker who is now the Special Assistant of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr. was the latter's top campaign donor in the May elections.

Anton Lagdameo, the treasurer of Partido Federal ng Pilipinas under which Marcos ran, donated a total of P247,234,320.09, according to Comelec data gathered by the ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group.

Lagdameo’s contribution, which was tagged as “in-kind from party”, accounts for 39.58 percent of the P624,684,320.09 Marcos received in total for his presidential bid.

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Lagdameo, a scion of a wealthy clan in Southern Mindanao, served three terms as congressman of Davao del Norte's second district from 2007 to 2016. He is the husband of actress and TV host Dawn Zulueta.

He supported Marcos' 2016 vice-presidential bid. Zulueta had told ABS-CBN News that year that her husband received death threats as a result.

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Aside from Lagdameo, some of the other top donors were Melquiades Robles who donated P30 million, and Philip G. Lo, who donated P25 million.

Of the total contribution for Marcos' campaign, P373.3 million were tagged as “cash from others” while P4.2 million were tagged as “in-kind from others”.

The rest of the amount was tagged as “in-kind contributions from political party.”

According to Marcos' Statement of Contribution and Expenditures (SOCE) filed at the Comelec, his camp incurred P623,230,176.68 expenses for the duration of the campaign period from Feb. 8 to May 7.

Meanwhile, Vice President Sara Duterte received a total of P216,190,935.06 in contributions, the same amount of expenses her campaign incurred.

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Her top donor is her political party, Lakas Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD), which donated more than P139.12 million.

Of this amount, P133.89 million was tagged as “in-kind from party” and P5.23 million as “in-kind from others”.

The Lakas-CMD’s contribution is 64.35 percent of the total contributions received for Duterte’s campaign.

Former Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque is Duterte’s second top contributor, donating more than P36.41 million. Roque ran for senator in the same elections under the Marcos-Duterte tandem but lost.

National candidates were only allowed to spend P674 million for their campaign during the latest elections, or P10 for each for 67.44 million registered voters.

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