Group launches crowdfunding site for Leni’s campaign

By Mavic Conde

A group has made a crowdfunding page for the presidential bid of Vice President Leni Robredo. Its aim? To help fund her campaign in next year’s elections.

Team Leni Robredo on Tuesday, Oct. 14, created the page where donations can be made from as low as P50 to P20,000. Those interested in chipping in more than P20,000 are also welcome. How to donate? Simply go to this page: donation.teamlenirobredo.com

But is crowdfunding legal, as far as contributing to a candidate’s campaign fund is concerned?

In an opinion piece written by election lawyer Emil Marañon III in Rappler, he said that this is legally allowed as long as the donations are made before the official campaign period starts on Feb. 8, 2022.

In his article, he cited “Penera vs. Comelec (G.R. No. 181613, November 25, 2009), which decrees that no one is considered a “candidate” before the campaign period.”

He added that, “The “Report of Contribution” requirement applies only to contributions to “candidates” and, per Penera, there are no candidates before the start of the campaign period.”

According to him, “this opens an opportunity for crowdfunding, donations or contributions even to those who already filed their certificate of candidacy will still not be governed by Sections 98 and 99.”

Marañon explained that this provision in the 1985 Omnibus Election Code “requires that regardless of the amount of the contribution, the donor would need to file with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) a notarized “Report of Contribution”’.