Manila Mayor Isko Moreno: “There is no such thing as $15 million. It is prohibited by law.”
ISKO MORENO — Manila Mayor Francisco Domagoso denied allegations that he received some USD 15 million from tech billionaire Bill Gates.
Moreno made the statement during the CNN Philippines presidential debates after Jose Montemayor, who is also running for president in the 2022 elections, asked if the Manila Mayor would return the million-dollar donation after the elections.
“There is no such thing as $15 million. It is prohibited by law,” Moreno said. “It is not true. I don’t know where you got it.“
Rappler reported that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donated around PHP 16 million to Moreno’s Project Kubeta for Manila in 2020. Based on a report, the said donation was to City Hall and not to Moreno’s campaign.
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When presidential candidates were asked if they were in favor of returning excess campaign donations after the elections, the Manila mayor was the lone presidential candidate who answered in the negative, acknowledging that he kept some PHP 50 million in excess campaign funds after his failed senatorial bid in 2016.
Moreno even pulled out a receipt from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to prove that he paid taxes for the PHP 50 million he kept.
LOOK: Manila mayor and presidential candidate @IskoMoreno shows a photo of the tax receipt he showed during the #CNNPHPresidentialDebate. Date is shown July 22, 2016, amounting to over Php9.6M | @cnnphilippines #TheFilipinoVotes pic.twitter.com/ZvXHDkRByC
— Paolo Barcelon (@pnbarcelonlive) February 27, 2022
“I have to be fair with the Filipino people. Hindi ako nagsauli ng binigay sa aking tulong sa kampanya na sobra, ngunit tinupad ko ang aking tungkulin bilang mamamayan na magbayad ng buwis,” Moreno said. “That’s why wala akong moral ascendancy, to answer the question, in favor.”
According to Moreno, he couldn’t say if he would continue to keep excess campaign funds in the future but underscored the need for Congress to pass new laws to direct political candidates on how to handle excess campaign funds after elections.
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