Team DailyPedia
PDP-Laban Vice-Presidential candidate Senator Alan Peter Cayetano warned the public on May 5 (Thursday) regarding the possible airing of negative television advertisements targeting his running mate, Davao City Mayor and Presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte. According to an unnamed source, these alleged multi-million negative television ads would air on ABS-CBN on Friday (May 6).
The Senator said that his source claimed that while other networks rejected the said multi-million deal, ABS-CBN’s ethics committee allegedly “blindly approved” the negative political ad that would try to tarnish the reputation of his running mate Duterte.
“The mayor’s rivals are obviously afraid, and so they are resorting to these cheap stunts to try and bring his image down.
“They are so desperate that, aside from the full barrage of trimedia attacks against Mayor Duterte, they are now trying to push for millions in advertisements in major networks in the last few days of the campaign,” Cayetano said.
The news was first reported by Inquirer late in the afternoon of May 5th. There were no official statements released by ABS-CBN about the Senator’s allegations. The silence was broken however by the actual airing of the anti-Duterte advertisement. However, the said commercial didn’t just air on ABS-CBN as what Cayetano’s sources claimed, but on GMA Network as well. The ads were also aired on April 5, a day earlier than what Cayetano claimed.
The controversial anti-Duterte ad also hit YouTube and immediately went viral and caused an uproar online.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwnXofEQMD0
Later that evening, ABS-CBN released an official statement about the commercials:
“The controversial political advertisement being talked about in social media, which aired on ABS-CBN, was produced and paid for by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV. Prior to the airing, ABS-CBN’s ethics committee reviewed the content of the material, which complies with the requirements of pertinent election laws.
“By airing the said commercial, ABS-CBN is being consistent with COMELEC guidelines, which prohibit radio or television stations to discriminate in the sale of air time against any political party or candidate. We are duty bound to air a legitimate ad.”
There have been mixed reactions criticizing and defending the controversial negative political ad from various netizens and known public personalities:
https://www.facebook.com/irabernardovpanganiban/posts/10156797474300858
https://www.facebook.com/tonton.contreras/posts/10205287387298378
This is not the first time that a negative television advertisement targeting national candidates was aired by major television networks. A private enterprise-sponsored ad alluded to Vice-President Jejomar Binay and the allegations against him. The ad featured children as well. During the election season in the United States, negative political ads are quite commonplace.
As of April 6, the Taguig trial court has issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) on the airing of the controversial on ABS-CBN as filed by Cayetano. However, no such TRO was issued to GMA 7 which also aired the same ad.
