By Rjay Zuriaga Castor
Facebook pages supporting independent senatorial candidates Bam Aquino and Kiko Pangilinan are among the biggest Meta ad spenders for February in Western Visayas, a region that has heavily supported their candidacies in past elections.
A review of Meta’s Ad Library revealed that Team Good Governance, a page endorsing Aquino, Pangilinan, and Akbayan Party-list first nominee Chel Diokno, led all advertisers with a total spending of PHP 300,865 on political ads.
Following closely was Kikommunity – Kiko Pangilinan Volunteers, which spent P218,274 in the same period.
Other pages owned by them and those supporting their candidacies were also in the top 20 spenders last month, namely “Bam Aquino,” “We Support Bam Aquino” and “Atty. Chel Diokno.”
The pages supporting the three opposition candidates spent over PHP 700,000 in February.
Las Piñas Rep. and senatorial aspirant Camille Villar was previously the top digital advertiser in Western Visayas in January.
However, in February, Villar’s spending significantly decreased, with her latest reported expenditure at PHP 195,935, ranking third. This is a total amount from two pages under her name but has two funders, herself and her family’s Fine Properties Inc.
Meanwhile, digital media pages also emerged as key players in the region’s political ad landscape.
Pilipinas Today followed with an ad expenditure of PHP 171,063, while its sister pages, Pilipinas Today Bisaya and Pilipinas Today Davao, collectively spent over PHP 258,000.
These pages are financially backed by Wanna Fact PH and have frequently promoted Francis Tolentino, Abby Binay, Martin Romualdez, and Zaldy Co, while publishing negative content against Bong Go, Chiz Escudero, and Sara Duterte.
Local candidates also utilized digital advertising to bolster their campaigns ahead of the 2025 elections. Capiz congressional candidate Paolo Roxas spent PHP 128,791, placing sixth among the top advertisers. His rival, Rep. Howard Guintu, followed in 13th place with PHP 88,655.
Other political entities investing heavily in Facebook advertising included Pinoy Workers Partylist (PHP 122,573), FPJ Panday Bayanihan (PHP 119,704), and ANGKASangga Partylist (PHP 92,641).
