Join politics—not necessarily for its infamous corruption scandals, but for a quieter, more "legitimate" menu: leftover campaign contributions. No need for kickbacks or ghost projects. Just a wildly successful campaign, a few generous donors, and voila—your SALN might just sing a billion-peso tune.
That’s the tune that stunned the public when the SALNs were released. Senator Raffy Tulfo and his wife, Rep. Jocelyn Tulfo, declared a combined net worth of P1.05 billion. Instantly, earning the senator a new monicker: The Silent Billionaire. And the silence? It wasn’t just about the money. It was about the how.
The Billionaire Who Spoke for the Poor
Raffy Tulfo has long been known as the voice of the aggrieved—the everyman’s broadcaster, the YouTube crusader who took on abusive employers, negligent officials, and cheating spouses with equal fervor. His rise to the Senate was powered not by political pedigree, but by populist appeal. He was, in many ways, the anti-elite.
So, when his SALN revealed a P1.05 billion net worth, the public reaction was swift and sharp:
“Problem is, his organization is nonprofit. How the heck was he able to accumulate a lot of money kung ang pondo daw ay binibigay sa charity? Something smells fishy.”
“Dami nakuhang padulas niyan… yung mga nirereklamo ng taumbayan kakausapin muna hihingan ng suhol para di ilabas yung issue.”
“Ganun ba talaga kalaki kitaan sa social media that it can make someone a billionaire?”
“YouTube nya estimate ko nasa 7-8m pesos per month. Don’t believe yung mga estimate sa socialblade or viewstats, based yun sa US. Pag ang viewers nasa Pilipinas, sobrang baba.”
“Alam ko na mayaman sila pero honestly never ko na inaasahan na billionaire sila. Pang ilan ba sila sa mga list ng top tax payer kahit para sa mga celebrities?”
“He is also a journalist. But yeah, imposibleng maging billionaire ang isang journalist/YouTuber even if may billion subscribers and views pa sya. I read somewhere before na Southeast Asia ang may pinakamababang rates when it comes to ad revenue sa YouTube.”
A Clue from an Old Interview
An old interview between Jessica Soho and Isko Moreno may offer a clue. In it, Isko candidly admitted that he had P50 million in leftover campaign funds—money pooled from donors, declared as income. When asked where the money was, he replied simply: “Nasa akin.”
Jessica Soho (JS): Sa report ng Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, nagbayad kayo ng tax na P9.7 million para sa income P50.5 million. Clarification lang po. Yon po bang P50.5 million na yon is the same P50 million na na-save po ninyo from your campaign contributions?
Isko Moreno (IM): Yes, because I had to pay taxes, kapag may natira sa kampanya dahil yon namay pooled account, pooled money, ibat-ibang tao, you have to declare, tapos kapag yon ay nasa iyo na, ay kailangan mo magbayad ng buwis, which is yon ang ginawa ko.
JS: Pero tama po ba na nasa income nyo po yon?
IM: Yon ang sinasabi ng BIR. Kailangan mo kasi, hawak-hawak mo ang pera. Limited ang gastusin mo sa kampanya. Sumobra ang donation mo. So tangan-tangan mo yong pera. Kailangan ka magbayad ng buwis. At yon ay lumalabas na income mo.
JS: Nasaan na po yong pera?
IM: Nasa akin.
JS: Income. Part of your income. Wala ho bang violation doon?
IM: As long na nagbabayad ka ng buwis.
Then-Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said that there’s no rule mandating the candidate to return the excess funds to the donor.
In the U.S., the Federal Election Commission has strict rules about what federal candidates can and can’t do with leftover campaign money. The candidates can’t pocket it for personal use. The rules were based on a study that showed a third of Congress personally kept and spent millions in campaign donations. Congress was embarrassed and consequently passed a law against this custom.
So, If Isko could walk away with P50 million in leftovers, what more a topnotcher like Tulfo—whose campaign was backed by a massive media machine, millions of followers, and likely, donors with deep pockets and vested interests?
The Loophole That Whispers
This isn’t about proving wrongdoing. It’s about asking the right questions.
Should candidates be allowed to keep unspent campaign funds?
Should SALNs include a breakdown of campaign-related income?
Should we, as citizen, normalize multimillion, more so, billion-peso net worth among public servants without asking how?
Tulfo isn’t alone. Most senators are multimillionaires. The Senate, it seems, is less a chamber of public service and more a club of the quietly wealthy. And in a country where millions live paycheck to paycheck, and half of the Filipino families consider themselves as poor, that silence is deafening.
What We Choose to Hear
The Silent Billionaire label may have been meant to provoke. But it also invites reflection. Silence, after all, is not always absence. Sometimes, it’s strategy. Sometimes, it’s complicity.
And sometimes, it’s the sound of a system working exactly as designed.
So, the next time we hear a politician speak of sacrifice, transparency, or public trust, let’s listen closely—not just to what is said, but to what is left unsaid.
Last year, my wife and I were gifted a vacation in Belgium by a dear couple—our children’s former nanny and her Belgian hubby. One evening, as we sat around the dinner table, our host gently pointed to the food we hadn’t finished. It was a dish too exotic for our Pinoy taste, unfamiliar and rich.
“Remember the poor in your country,” he said with a smile, tongue-in-cheek but not without weight.
That moment stayed with me. Because in a nation where poverty is not just persistent but pervasive, it’s not merely the leftovers on our plates that should trouble us. It’s the leftovers in campaign coffers—unspent, unreturned, and quietly repurposed—transforming public servants into private millionaires while public remains hungry for accountability.
Content & editing put together in collaboration with Bing Microsoft Ai-powered Co-pilot
Head collage photos courtesy of Bing image creator, Linkedin, Pixabay; design by Canva
Still photos courtesy of Philstar, YouTube, Saksi Ngayon. Rappler, & Pexels
